Fantastic Beasts and the Following Years
by FlurryPhoenix
Summary: While attempting to go into the past, Newt Scamander accidentally travels seventy-five years to the future where he arrives at Hogwarts in 1995. Set during the Order of the Phoenix book and two days after the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them movie. Time Turner AU (CURRENTLY ON HIATUS)
1. Prologue

A/N: This is a time turner AU. On pottermore, I did some research into the time turner and it was mostly about how long a person can go back in time before being affected. I was very curious about going into the future and it did not have any information about the future. I am only interpreting the deadly affects from going into the past for this future AU. After I saw FBAWTFT twice, I immediately fell in love with Newt and I thought about the Prisoner of Azkaban book where Newt shows up on the map. I thought,"What if Newt travelled to the future?" I have always wanted to see an interaction between Hermione and Newt (since they are some of my favorite characters). This AU takes place in Order of the Phoenix. I thought of this because I think it would be a fun idea if Newt had to deal with Dumbledore and Dolores Umbridge at this time. I have so many more reasons for wanting to write this AU at this certain time but I must be boring you. Please give any criticism and corrections, they are always welcome.

-Athena, Slytherin.

Prologue

New York, 1926

Two days after Grindelwald's capture

The MACUSA was in chaos. After all, the wizarding world was just exposed and even worse, the dark wizard, Gellert Grindelwald, has been infiltrating their ranks and rose to a powerful position at Madam Picquery side. To be fooled so easily would make any magical organization on high alert.

Newt was planning on staying in New York a week later then expected. The MACUSA asked him various questions such as how he knew about Grindelwald and what happened in the subway. While Newt was allowed to leave freely with his case full of magical creatures, Madam Picquery required him to create a list of all the beasts and scale them on how dangerous they are. At the same time, Newt tried to educate the MAC about these creatures while staying in New York.

Outside of the days he spent with MAC, Nick went to visit Tina and Queenie as much as he could. Queenie was still upset over letting Jacob go and sneaks off to his bakery quite often. While one of these visits could jog Jacob's memory, Newt did not care as he missed him as well. As for Tina, she regained her job as an Auror after Newt talked to Madam Picquery multiple times. While she was grateful for her job back, Tina still wore a mask of guilt ever since that night in the subway. Newt could see it on her face. Queenie could read both their minds and it was focused on one thing: what could they have done to prevent Credence's death? Newt had wished for a second chance to stand up to Grindelwald when he was attacking while Tina wanted to stall or even arrive early to the scene where Credence was. Both of them could not imagine the emotional impact Credence must have been experiencing while living with his mother. Newt did not think he would ever get that night out of his mind. Whenever he closed his eyes, it always went back to how horrible the MACUSA was to do such a thing. Newt and Tina would have already spoken out but they were on an unofficial probation with the MACUSA.

On his third day in New York, Newt was in the Department of Mysteries (apparently there was one in America). They had requested to look and determine whether or not the Obscurial in his case could be harmful outside of its magical bubble. They only took the bubble and Newt still carried around his case. While waiting for their response, Newt went on a tour on his own. He did not know if this was allowed but curiosity was one of Newt's flaws. There were many doors and rooms full of many different items, some of them were locked. He did see the space room that had beautiful embroidered planets of different colors circling around a bright golden sphere. Newt saw a room full of brains, something that did not sit well with his stomach. He spent the rest of his time wandering around for hours while they assessed the Obscurial. He finally came upon a long hallway with a small object in a glass case. Once Newt got closer, he realized it was a necklace. It was a gorgeous golden round item with a long chain. On the plaque, it read time-turner. Newt remembered reading about time-turner's while at Hogwarts and how they were forbidden from using. He was always questioning time-turners since Newt only studied about the use of going back in time and the impact. Only five hours back in time could not harm a person. As Newt thought about Hogwarts, Leta came to his mind. He suppressed those thoughts as quickly as possible and instead thought how he would use a time-turner now. If Newt had one at Hogwarts, he would have definitely used it for more sleep. However, Newt felt different about it this time. He still felt incredibly guilty about Credence's death and wants to fix it. Credence should of had a chance to live in the wizarding world and it was not right what the MAC did. Newt looked down the hallway to make sure no one was watching. He quickly descended into his case and was trying to find the Niffler. Newt has his chance to save Credence and he wasn't going to waste it. The Niffler would be able to sneak in and out of the magical glass without any detection. As Newt found the Niffler, he tried to scurry away.

"ACCIO," Newt yelled, and the Niffler came towards him.

Upstairs, Newt made a deal with the Niffler, he would be able to spend a day on his own if he only got the time-turner. Newt only made his deal since he planned on re-living the past three days and the Niffler would never remember. While it was incredibly dangerous for Newt to do this, he was very, very desperate to save Credence. As the Niffler came out of the glass with the magical necklace, he left it on the ground in front of Newt and scurried off somewhere with no good intentions.

Newt quickly put the time-turner around his neck. He heard footsteps coming from a different hall, they were evenly paced so Newt inferred he did not set the alarms off. The footsteps soon faded away and he continued with his business. It was 75 hours ago and Newt needed to spin the time-turner 15 times. He heard the footsteps getting closer and Newt felt rushed. He didn't know how many times he flicked it but little did Newt know, he flicked it frontwards instead of backwards. He tried thinking of the subway to appear there but Hogwarts did not leave his mind. It kept coming back to him and as hard as he could, Newt tried to keep those thoughts away. They soon consumed him and all he could think about was Hogwarts. Not paying attention, Newt was set in a gaze about his memories at Hogwarts. He kept flicking it without his knowledge. It was a good six minutes until Newt realized what happened, but it was too late as the scenery changed. Newt quickly grabbed his case beside him before it was too late. The hallway in the Department of Mysteries soon washed away to reveal a vast forest.

Next Chapter:

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this prologue! The next chapter will have more speaking parts. This was mostly a description about how the story starts. If there are any ideas, please tell me! I would love to hear more ideas!

As always, please review so that I can make these chapters better!

-Athena, Slytherin.


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: NOTICE: I combined some chapters as I feel it is a better flow.**

 **Chapter One: The Dark Forest**

Newt appeared in a forest and as he did, there was a loud noise that sounded like a tree falling. He fell on his chest and heard a crack.

"Not the time-turner, please.."

As soon as Newt got up to examine himself, a wave of nausea hit him and he dropped his suitcase to his side. Soon Newt was on the ground, his head facing down at the wet forest floor. He had not registered the many cuts and bruises that were on his hands and arms and a deep cut in his stomach was starting to affect him now.

He heard the creek of a door and many voices as he doze off. Newt tried not to pass out but it consumed him and he laid silent on the wet leaves.

Four figures were surrounding Newt, three average-height people with the traditional Hogwarts robes on and a larger giant-like man with bruises and scratches on his face. The large man was the first to act, telling the others to grab the case and to help carry Newt back to the castle.

 _There was a stone hallway that had a window at the end of it. Outside of the window was a grand lawn with a forest skirting the edges. A figure was waiting near the window, alert to any noises. A girl wearing Slytherin robes and dark chocolate hair came down the hallway. She stopped near the window._

 _"Well, what is your surprise that could not wait till morning," the girl said._

 _"I found a hippogriff in the forest! I only wanted to see it when the teachers were not around so that I do not have to worry about having to come back to class."_

 _The night was very dark, the two figures made their way out of the castle as quickly as possible to see if the hippogriff was still there. In the forest, the young boy tried making quiet footsteps. He walked on different angles to avoid any sound while the girl next to him tried, but failed multiple times. Both of them decided it was alright to light their wands to find the creature. When they reached the designated area, there were no signs of the hippogriff._

 _"It must be around here somewhere. I saw it just before I went to the dining hall," the boy said._

 _"Perhaps it was hungry or missed its family," the girl tried to joke._

 _"No, no it seemed content and he, or she, bowed and allowed me to get near it. It seemed as though it was staying here for a while."_

 _"You're telling me you got near a hippogriff? Why are we even out here then? To show off?" there was annoyance in her voice._

 _"I was hoping I could share a great moment in my life with you. That we could experience how wonderful a creature the hippogriff is.."_

 _"I could've gotten extra sleep," there girl said with a grin._

 _"Like you need it, we practically sneak off every night and you still are beaming even after a night full of adventure," the boy said._

 _"It is a miracle that we haven't been caught in our act yet. I always enjoy our time out here in our adventures, Newt," she said._

 _Both the girl and Newt walk back towards to castle with grins on their faces. They plan how to find the hippogriff, if it is still on school grounds, and what to name it. Newt suggests names while the girl continues to laugh until they part ways in the dark castle to their separate dormitories._

When Newt woke up, he had to think for a few minutes while he registered where he was. He had recognized the area but there wasn't a thought as to where he has saw it. As soon as Newt remembers what happens, he immediately panics, hoping he isn't too late to save Credence. Newt tries to get up but his headache makes him stagger. As he leans on the bed to look up, he is hit with a wave of remembrance.

"I-I... I remember this place...," Newt utters, completely stunned.

It was a long room with many hospital beds and a large wooden door as the entrance. On the bed next to him, near the pillow, was his case. Newt immediately thinks about his creatures and worries deeply about their current state when all of a sudden, a lady walks in. She is wearing a white apron with red robes underneath. She looks worried as soon as she steps in.

"Oh my! Please, please get back to bed... I will alert the headmaster that you are awake," she exclaims.

The lady half helps and half forces Newt into the hospital bed and it was at this moment Newt realizes his upper body was naked with a large bandage wrapped around his waist tightly. As Newt settles down again, he looks away from the lady as she walks out and awkwardly tries to cover himself up with the sheet. Newt continually looks over to his case, wanting to get up but his limbs would not work. As he makes up his mind to get out of bed and help his creatures, four people walk in.

The lady who helped Newt before leads the other three. One of them is a woman in black robes with spectacles sitting on her nose. Her hair is grey and she has a stern look on her face. The other woman next to her is completely the opposite. She is a small, plump woman with brown and beige clothes on with a hat on her curly grey hair. The third figure is a man that seems all too familiar to Newt. He has long white hair and a long white beard. He is wearing very decorated velvet-like purple robes.

They all stop at the end of his bed and not liking the attention, Newt tries to make himself smaller and avoids eye contact, only staring at the floor.

"Thank you Madam Pomfrey, we will take it from here," the man says to the lady who helped Newt. She quickly walks out of the room and closes the large wooden doors.

The man comes next to him and sits on the opposite bed with his case of magical creatures. Newt was hoping these people were not like the MACUSA. They all spoke British accents, but even some people at the Ministry for Magic are like those at MACUSA.

"Hello . Long-time no see I suppose," the old man says, trying to introduce himself.

Newt is curious now, he tries to ask how he knows his name and what he meant by "long-time no see," but at last, Newt just sat there, looking at the blankets.

"I would hope you have recognized me but I guess not. I will re-introduce myself. I am Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts school for witchcraft and wizardry." He then points to the taller, stern looking woman and continues,"this is Professor Minerva McGonagall," he points to the smaller woman,"and this would be Professor Pomona Sprout," he says quietly.

Newt looks up immediately to Professor Dumbledore and says,"Professor, I don't mean to be rude, but well... you have aged a lot since I last saw you," Newt says. He immediately feels awkward with all the eyes on me and sinks back, still looking in Professor Dumbledore's direction.

"It seems so, from your perspective at least. The last time I saw you, you were not this young," Professor Dumbledore remarks.

Newt looks up immediately, horror on his face.

"Wh-wh-what... year... is-is-is it?" Newt stammers out.

"I am afraid it is 1995, ."

Newt almost passes out with horror as the two other professors at the end of the bed look on to him.

"This cannot be, I-I-I only meant to go back.. thre-three days..," Newt finally gets out.

The woman in black robes, Professor McGonagall, steps up to ask,"You have time-traveled, I am afraid. We found the time-turner on your neck once you were in the infirmary a week ago. I am sorry, but it is broken."

Newt's heart sank and he almost threw up had it not been for Professor Dumbledore speaking next.

"The Ministry for Magic has been... interfering with Hogwarts as of lately. One of our teachers has a position there and reported you being here. The Ministry is not happy at all and they are requesting that you be interrogated by her. I have requested our herbology teacher, Professor Sprout, to be here while you are interrogated in case there are any medical mishaps."

"It was a very dangerous thing what you did, . Traveling in the past for five hours alone could kill you, but sixty years? It is a miracle you are not dead, something I am quite curious about. So I will be here studying your motions for the next few days before you are released," Professor Sprout stated.

Newt was about to ask about his creatures when the large wooden doors opened and a lady in pink walking down the corridor to the end of his bed furious. Sensing his eyes on the case, Professor Dumbledore looks up at Newt and places a hand on the magically case.

"Do not fear, they will be taken care of by one of our teachers. Do not mention the contents of this case to anyone," Professor Dumbledore whispered quickly.

As soon as the lady reached the end of Newt's bed, all the professors left but the herbology one. Newt felt even worse then he did, his wounds were now starting to burn and his nausea was only worsening with the pink lady in the room. She was ringing alarm bells off in his head as she sat beside him with a small pink briefcase.

"Now where to begin," the lady said in a high pitch. She smiled at Newt in a fake way and he sunk even further into the bed.

* * *

There was an awkward five minute long pause as the pink lady next to him got a quill and a piece of parchment out. Newt did not want to be at Hogwarts of all places right now. Even worse, the time-turner was gone and now he could be stuck here for quite a while and he wasn't looking forward to that. If Newt was in trouble with the Ministry, he can only imagine MACUSA's reaction when and if he gets back. The pink lady interrupted his thoughts when she started to introduce herself.

"Hello! My name is Dolores Umbridge! I am the professor for the Defense Against the Dark Arts and I am also the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic," she said with a large smile.

Newt sat there silently. He was trying to figure out what made him so eerily suspicious about this woman. She wore all pink and her hair was in a bob that was so high, it could have touched the clouds. Umbridge sat there waiting for a reply but Newt sulked into the bed even more and continued to avoid eye contact.

"Now,"she began,"I have been sent here to interrogate and ask you some questions about your, er, appearance at Hogwarts at such a young age."

Newt was at a lost for words, he still did not believe it was 1995. He couldn't accept it.

"Now, please correct me if I am wrong, but you are Newton Artemis Fido Scamander, born in 1907," Umbridge stated.

Newt could not get the words out so he simply nodded.

"What was the year you departed before coming to 1995?"she asked.

"1926," Newt replied softly.

Newt's wounds were healing now but the deep cut across his abdomen was burning now. It felt as though there was a bucket of lava siting across it. Newt could barely think anymore that he missed Umbridge's statement.

"Hello? Mr Scamander? Do you admit to using a time-turner and if so, where did you find the object?"she asked.

Newt tried using words but all he could think about was the pain he was in. He clutched the front of his stomach and Professor Sprout, sensing this, says," Professor Umbridge, I do not think is well. Let me check on him to make sure there are no complications. Then you can resume questioning him." Newt was grateful for Professor Sprout. He did not feel like continuing and Newt was feeling dizzier and his vision was becoming fuzzier by the moment. He laid his head back and Newt closed his eyes. Umbridge was not happy to have her interrogation interrupted.

"Fix him quickly, time is of the essence here. The Ministry must know what had happened. I will give you less then ten minutes to make him conscious," Umbridge said furiously.

Professor Sprout called for Madam Pompfrey to help Newt. Madam Pompfrey replaced his bandages while Sprofessor Sprout made a small mixture for him to drink that will make Newt stay awake for at least an hour. By the time they gave it to Newt, Umbridge had come back. They needed to give him an extra five minutes to at least become conscious.

"You are telling me it will take another five minutes? Professor Sprout, I would have thought you could of done better," Umbridge says, questioning Professor Sprout's capabilities.

Professor Sprout looked as though she could slap Umbridge for what she just said but before she could get the chance, Madam Pompfrey led her out and closed the doors.

Feeling the need to speed things along, Umbridge takes out a vile of Veritaserum, truth serum, and places it in tea she intends to give to Newt.

Once Newt become concious again, the cut in his stomach was still stinging but not as bad as it was before. He turned to his side to see Umbridge staring at him with a cup of tea in her hands.

"Professor Sprout and Madam Pompfrey require that you drink this to help with the sting of your wound," Umbridge said deviously.

Newt sat up and took the tea, avoiding any eye contact and replying with a soft,"Thank you."

After he was finished, she took the cup from Newt and his cut did not stop burning. In fact, it increased even more. He was breathing shallowly but before he could ask what the ingredients inside the tea were, Umbridge continued with her interrogation.

"Now, please answer my question again. Do you admit to using a time-turner and if so, where did you find one?"

Newt did not want to respond, he just wanted to go back to sleep or speak with Professor Dumbledore again. However, his mind was betraying him. Newt was compelled to answer full-heartily.

"Yes, I used a time turner and I got it from the Department of Myserties at MACUSA," Newt said, practically spitting out the words. Newt was astonished and he had a sneaking suspicion Umbridge did not tell the truth about the tea cup.

"Good! Where is this time-turner?"

"It-It," Newt stammered, trying to resist answering. Umbridge looked on, nodding her head, wanting answers."It was destroyed and I haven't seen it since the night I came here," Newt said breathlessly.

"I hope you know that there is not another time-turner. At least not in Europe. Perhaps America but I highly doubt they would let you use it to return to your time," Umbridge said,"While there has been no experimentation with time travel to the future, you can expect some sort of punishment from the Ministry for Magic."

Newt felt like the time he was expelled from Hogwarts, his shoulders sunk and his eyes did not meet those of Umbridge.

"Thank you for answering my questions," Umbridge said with a fake smile. She gathered her possessions and half skipped down the corridor outside.

Newt then felt the need for sleep overcome him. Staying up this long was draining his energy. He turned himself on his side and fell asleep for a while.

 **Later...**

When Newt woke up again, he looked out the window. It was dark and there was a light beside his table with a tray full of food. Newt inferred it was past supper and he took the tray. He was feeling very drained from his day and Newt did not remember the last time he ate. He guessed it was before he left, which would be over 70 years for someone. He smiled at that thought, it was a little funny. There was turkey included in his meal but he just swept it aside since he is a vegetarian. When Newt was done with his meal, he was going to place it on the bedside table when he realized there was a letter addressed to him. Newt opened the seal and it read:

 _Dear Mr Scamander,_

 _I hope you remember your time at Hogwarts. I am truly sorry I could not speak to you in person but I am quite busy. Perhaps tomorrow I could come visit you. If you were wondering about your case, do not worry. Our professor for the Care of Magical Creatures and our Gamekeeper, Rubeus Hagrid, has been looking after many of your creatures. Madam Pompfrey and Professor Sprout estimate that you should be able to walk around by tomorrow. However, they ask that you only leave the hospital wing for an hour at a time since you can seriously weaken yourself._

 _In the next few days, you should be able to leave the infirmary but there is the ordeal with the time-turner. The Ministry is acting very paranoid as of lately. There is tension running between myself and the Ministry at this time due to a certain matter I cannot disclose to you. It is very dangerous for you to know about the future, if you are able to make it back to 1926. There is also the matter about your older counterpart. Yes, you live until 1995, that is as much about your future I can tell you. However, since no one has traveled to the future before, we do not know what will happen. When you travel to the past, you are there with a younger version. However, the Department of Mysteries thinks that you replace your older self when going to the future as yourself from 1995 has not been seen ever since you arrived._

 _We can speak more about it tomorrow but I suggest you rest now._

 _-Professor Dumbledore_

Newt sat there completely stunned at the last part of Professor Dumbledore's letter. While the good news is that Newt lives for a very long time, he still has no way of getting back. After sleeping for such a long time, Newt feels very bored and not as tired as Professor Dumbledore suggests. He attempts to get out of bed when he almost falls over. Newt catches his balance as quickly as he can and finds a shirt to put on. There is a traditional cloak next to Newt's bed that is black with different golden patterns. He puts it on and walks towards the door. Newt was sick of seeing the hospital wing, an area he was too familiar with when at Hogwarts.

Newt turned a corridor. He didn't know where he was going but he knew it had to be somewhere other then the infirmary. He heard many footsteps from down the corridor. It was dark and Newt's eyes were registered to the darkness but he could not tell whether the footsteps were in front of him or behind him. Newt pulls his cloak tighter around himself and turns around to see a stern looking man in all black robes with his wand illuminating a small glow. Next to him, he held onto the arm of a student drenched in sweat. They both stop, looking at Newt curiously and the older man speaks in a slow manner,"And who are you? An intruder?"

Before Newt could reply, the older man said,"No matter, you're coming with me."

Newt's hand immediately went to his side for his wand, but it was not there, and noticing this the older man yelled,"STUPEFY."

Newt's body flew back the corridor and he landed on his back. Pain immediately erupted on the backside of his wound. Newt placed a hand on his stomach and felt liquid. Blood was oozing from it, making his shirt wet. The wound must have opened up. Newt could barely breath at this time. The older man came and checked for his wand but it was not there. He helped Newt up and ordered him to walk in front of him for a few more yards until they reached a corridor with a golden eagle statue. Newt was holding onto his stomach to prevent bleeding any further. The old man in black said something and it revealed stairs going up. Newt realized that these were the stairs to the headmaster's office. While Newt was glad to be seeing Dumbledore, he wished something could be done about his wound. In order to stop the bleeding, Newt tightened the cloak around him even more. Once they reached the top, the older man led him and the other student inside.

Professor Dumbledore was inside the headmaster's office, tending to a Phoenix. He was very surprised to turn around and find Newt, Harry and Professor Snape standing there at that time of night.

"I found Potter in the hallway, he had a...vision. And for the other one, this man was wandering the hallways and reached for his wand. I assumed the worst that he was an intruder," Professor Snape said slowly.

Newt could almost feel Professor Dumbledore's stare. He avoided looking at him. He walked over to the student and asked what he saw, he seem more worried about the vision at this moment.

Newt was not paying attention to anything they said until Professor Dumbledore quickly went over to the Phoenix with a letter."Faux Feathers, deliver this to the Ministry right away, time is of the essence," he said. He turned to the student,"Harry, wait outside, there is some other business I must attend to quickly," Professor Dumbledore said as he was leading the student named Harry outside his office.

He then turned to Newt."Newt, what are you doing up at this hour? In my letter I suggested for you to walk around tomorrow, not tonight"

"I'm sorry professor, I was quite bored sitting in that room and I have slept for a week. I highly doubt I need anymore rest," Newt said.

The professor went over to Professor Snape. Newt had almost forgotten about his wound. He had been holding it so long he didn't care to look."Professor Snape, thank you for your caution but I advise you to no longer attack an unarmed man or woman at night. He is our guest for the time being," Professor Dumbledore said.

Newt was now looking at his hand, it was bloody. Even after he placed the cloak on his wound, it still seeped through to this hand.

Professor Snape was about to answer Dumbledore when he noticed Newt's hand.

"Your hand, what happened?" Snape said as he rushed over. Professor Dumbledore followed closely behind him.

Snape forces Newt's hand open and sees that the bottom part of his shirt is bloody red."Diffindo," Snape says with a slash of his wand. The buttons on Newt's shirt become undone to reveal the bandage covering his wound completely red.

"Why didn't you say anything!" Dumbledore said rather loudly.

"Episkey," Snap said,"This should keep him from bleeding for a while. We must get him to the infirmary."

"I'm sorry professor, you were rather busy," Newt said, avoiding Dumbledore's stare.

"Go. Newt, you and I will be having a conversation about this later," Professor Dumbledore said as Snape led him out of the room. Newt would not be looking forward to that.

Newt and Professor Snape passed the student as they headed toward the infirmary. Newt could feel the student's gaze following him.

They reached the infirmary and Madam Pompfrey was furious.

"I was deathly scared! Where did you go? You aren't allowed to leave the hospital wing at night!" She exclaimed.

Before Newt could say anything, Professor Snape cut in, stating,"Madam Pompfrey, this man is hurt. I used a minor healing spell to sustain his wounds but they seem a little worse."

"How did this happen?" she said, as she was examining Newts abdomen.

"A stupefy spell," Snape said coldly and quietly.

"I am not even going to ask," Madam Pompfrey said as she wrapped bandages around Newt."There, you should heal enough over night to walk around for a while but I warn you to be cautious," she says as she creates some mixture.

Professor Snape leaves the hospital wing, seeing that his job was done. On his way out, he closed the doors.

"Drink this," Madam Pompfrey said, handing him a mixture.

"What is it?" Newt asked.

"It is a simple mixture to help you fall and stay asleep. I do not trust you to be on your own from now on unless you are sleeping," she says.

Newt, feeling bad for causing such a worry, drinks the mixture and lays down on the hospital bed. Sure enough, he dozes off into a deep slumber.

 **The Next Morning...**

When Newt woke up, Professor Dumbledore was waiting by his side.

"Ah, good-morning, Newt. I hope you slept well," he said.

Newt sat up very slowly, he was incredibly sore from the night he had. Professor Dumbledore, sensing his want to leave, begins to stand up and place a hand on his shoulder."What you did last night was very reckless. I understand your want to leave. I, myself, dislike the hospital wing very much. However, your wounds are very serious, especially those of time travel. We must monitor them carefully, they do not heal as quickly as other wounds," he said. Newt had no words, and instead, he simply nodded.

"Professor, I was.. well... I was wondering if I could see my creatures. I am very worried about them, they haven't been away from me this long," Newt said.

"I believe today you may walk around. Why yes, you can check on them but you cannot take care of them yet. I mentioned to you in my letter that Professor Hagrid would be taking care of them. Maybe after his Care of Magical Creatures lesson, you can go visit him," Professor Dumbledore said.

"I would enjoy that very much. Thank you," Newt said with a smile.

"Please come by my office later, I would like to speak to you on different matters. The password is PhoenixFeathers," Dumbledore said, and with that, he started for the door before he remembered,"Oh, and by the way, here is your wand," he said with a smile. And with that, Dumbledore left Newt.

With a flick of his wand, Newt summoned some clothes from his memory. Since he was in England, he felt safer wearing some more wizard-like items. He summoned maroon colored robes with two silver buttons on the side and three up the middle. Newt then summoned his golden colored waistcoat and then his bow tie tied itself with a swish of Newt's wand.

Newt then headed for the corridor. He went the opposite direction the night before since that way seemed to go deeper into the castle. Finally he found his way outside. It was snowing and Newt was wondering why on earth they would have a class outside today. Newt saw from the castle a large group of students not too far into the forest. He walked towards them and once he reached the outskirts of the class, Newt circled around to the side, walking into the forest. He could hear the students talk and surprisingly, Umbridge was there, which was quite weird in Newt's opinion. He observed the class silently and saw that this was a combined class between Slytherins and Gryffindors. The Slytherins reminded Newt about Leta. He was about to delve into more thoughts about her when Professor Hagrid announced his lesson.

"Er, yes, today we will be learnin' about thestrals," he said.

"Excuse me?" Umbridge said.

"Oh, um, you know, those large winged horses," Professor Hagrid said while imitating them with his arms.

Umbridge then wrote on her clipboard and said what she was writing loud enough for everyone to hear,"Has to resort... to... crude sign... language..."

Newt was stunned to how Umbridge was behaving. This was not right and it was at this moment that Newt began to see some of the thestrals.

"As I was sayin'...er, what was I sayin'?" he asked.

"Appears to have... short memory... loss...," Umbridge said and wrote away on her clipboard.

As the half-giant continued talking about thestrals, Newt began to remember some of his experiences with them. He had never seen a thestral physically. Newt has in fact, never saw them until now. He wondered what must have caused a change in order for him to see as well as understand death. Before he could continue with his thoughts, Newt leaned on a tree while Umbridge interrupted Professor Hagrid.

"Are you fully aware the Ministry of Magic has classified thestrals as highly dangerous animals?"

"Thesteals are not dangerous, not at all!" Hagrid exclaimed.

"Seems to show signs... of pleasure... at the ideas of... violence...," she said aloud again.

Before Newt could think about what he was doing, he blurted out,"Professor Hagrid is correct, thestrals are not dangerous unless you provoke them like all other animals, Professor Umbridge."

Newt immediately regretted his decision as everyone looked at him. Umbridge seems to be burning with anger and frustration.

"Ah, Mr Scamander, a pleasure to see you. I hope you are feeling alright," she said sweetly.

All Newt did was avoid eye contact and instead nodded.

"I hope you do know that thestrals are indeed dangerous since their invisibility can cause many complications," she continued on.

"They are not invisible to those who have experienced a death-like situation. And even then, they usually avoid people and are extremely compassionate. So, no, they are not dangerous Professor Umbridge," Newt said.

"Why are you even here? You are clearly interrupting a class, something that will not go unaccounted for," Umbridge replied.

Newt stepping closer toward the beautiful skeleton like horses replied,"Professor Dumbledore requested that I see Hagrid after his class. I did not realize it was only a few minutes early. Besides, it looks as though the students have learned that thestrals are indeed not dangerous, even when invisible. They avoid humans unless we approach them."

At this moment, the Gryffidor students looked at him in awe and the Slytherins were sneering with disgust.

"Class dismissed!" Umbridge said quickly. She then stormed off towards the castle shortly afterward.

 **A/N: The next chapter will be from Hermione's POV. It will start from the moment they saw Newt to the day after since I did mention he was in the hospital wing for about a week. Time-travel is very dangerous going into the past, imagine going to the future. I also hoped you enjoyed that memory Newt was dreaming about. And yes, it was with Leta if you were wondering. Once I'm finished with the story, I will probably continue with the events right after FBAWTFT. Let me know what you think and reviews are very appreciated!**

 **-Athena, Slytherin💚.**

 **UPDATE:**

 **A/N: Ok so I was thinking about an intereaction between Snape and Newt since they are pretty much the complete opposite. That will be highlighted in the next chapter. Also do not fear as Newt will become much better in the next chapter! I was going to put more information about Newt when Umbridge was talking to him but I don't know if he is a pure blood or half-blood. I know some fanfics say he's a pureblood but others say he's a half-blood. I think I'm probably going to toy around with the idea about him being a pure blood. Also I think I may go back and re-edit the date he was born since I think Newt looks wayyyy younger then 29 to be honest. As always, please review and tell me what you think!**

 **Ok so I edited Newt's birthday from 1897 to 1907 since I'm going to be pursuing something in the future (trying to do no spoilers here) so as of right now, Newt is 20.**

 **-Athena, Slytherin💚.**

 **UPDATE:**

 **A/N: This last scene with the thestrals is probably my favorite part to write to date. I may go back and re-edit it to make it longer since I love the idea of Newt one-upping Umbridge. It just brings joy to my mind xD. In the next chapter there will be a POV from Hermione about Newt interrupting the class and his interaction with Hagrid/the case. I'm not sure if I want Hermione, Harry and Ron all learning about the case just yet. I will have some time though since this is the last chapter I'm doing for tonight so. Hope you enjoyed and please review!**

 **I re-edit it because some things didn't make sense with the Order of the Phoenix book timeline. Since this is an AU, Harry had like a mini vision in between some of the chapters in the book, well that's how I put it. I'm halfway done with the other chapter and it should be up by 4:00 EST. Anyway, I have done some research into Newt's background like if he's half-blood or pure blood. Pottermore doesn't say anything while the wiki says he's pureblood. I think I'm gonna go guess that he's pure blood because his mother was a hippogriff breeder and well, you can't really do that in the open muggle world. Also, I'm probably going to lower Newt's age because 1) I have enjoyed writing Newt and Hermione's parts and I'm entertaining the idea of Newtmione. It is a little weird though that Hermione is 15 in Order of the Phoenix and the lowest age Newt could probably be is 20 but I have an idea on how to raise her age so do not fear!**

 **-Athena, Slytherin💚**


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: The Man and the Weird Case**

Hermione was sitting in Hagrid's cabin with Harry and Ron as they listen intently on why he was away for so long. When he finished Hermione gazed off a little from staying up so late while Ron battered Hagrid with questions. They were all sitting there undisturbed until a large tree like noise rocked the cabin. They all went outside to see smoke rising from the forest. It was less then 20 yards into the dark area.

"Get behind me," Hagrid ordered them. They walked into the forest carefully until they saw a man in a turquoise coat with a hand clasped on the handle of a case. His light ginger-like hair was plastered to his face and he was sweating a lot. There were many scratches, bruises and a deep red cut on his abdomen.

"Right, er, Hermione get the case, Ron and Harry, help me carry him back to the castle. Quickly now, we don't have much time!"

Hermione thought this man was dressed oddly for this type of period. He wore a golden waistcoat and a tie as well as brown leather combat boots. Usually wizards and witches in Europe wore robes. The case was also very peculiar. It was that of the 1930s and 40s she guessed. They were jogging as quickly as they could to the infirmary when Ron noticed something around his neck.

"Hey, look! That's a gorgeous necklace," Ron said. He slowed the group down observing it when Hagrid yelled at him to keep moving. It was nearly dark and they had reached the castle after 10 minutes. They rushed to the hospital and caught the attention of Professor McGonagall who was walking in the hallways. She walked quickly with them.

"What is the meaning of this?" she questioned them.

"I dunno, he just appeared right outta the forest in a large bang," Hagrid replied. The Professor did not look amused and she helped them inside the infirmary where Madam Pompfrey was creating mixtures with Professor Sprout.

"What happened to him? Where did you find this man?" Madam Pompfrey asked.

"He appeared outside the forest, I don't know how," Harry cut in. Realizing the students were still here Professor McGonagall ordered them to wait outside while she and Hagrid went to go find Professor Dumbledore.

Hermione, Harry and Ron waited outside in silence until Ron said,"Did you see his necklace? It was an hourglass! It was very pretty. It must be worth loads."

"Really, that's all you can think about," Harry quipped back.

Hermione tried thinking and she had a sneaking suspicion that the man used a time-turner but such an accusation could get her expelled. Before she could ask Ron how it looked, the professors came back and Hagrid was no where to be seen. As Professor McGonagall went inside, Professor Dumbledore studied them very quietly for a moment and went inside. Ron, Harry and Hermione couldn't help but walk inside and wait near the door. As Madam Pompfrey and Professor Sprout worked on the man's wounds, Professor Dumbledore spoke up, saying,"It would appear that this man used a time-turner,"pointing at the necklace.

"Well shouldn't we give it to the Ministry?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"No, it is already broken. There is no use for it now,"Professor Dumbledore replied.

"Well then the next question should be, who is this man exactly? Do you recognize him?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"This would happen to be an old student of mine. His name is Newt Scamander," Professor Dumbledore replied.

Hermione was shocked. She studied his textbook, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, multiple times and he continues to be one of her heroes.

"The Newt Scamander? The magizoologist who was expelled from Hogwarts? The author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them?" Hermione asked rather quickly.

Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall look back, noticing them for the first time. Professor Dumbledore whispers something to Professor McGonagall before signaling them to follow him.

They follow him to a hallway with the golden eagle stature. The headmaster's office. Professor Dumbledore speaks the password and up into his office they went.

Inside the grand room, he motioned them to sit on the chairs. It was quiet awkward since there were only two and Ron and Harry tried to take the same one. Harry remained standing after the little ordeal.

Professor Dumbledore began quietly,"I do not want this being spoken about to any student or teacher other then Professors McGonagall, Sprout and myself. You must forget what happened here tonight and never speak a word. Professor Umbridge will probably be requested to interrogate this man and I would rather not have an entire school knowing about this."

Hermione then spoke up,"Where is Hagrid? He just disappeared after he came back. He wouldn't be leaving again would he?"

"I am afraid I cannot answer as to where Hagrid has gone, but I can promise you, he will continue his lesson with you in your next class," the professor answered back,"Now please go back to your dormitory and Professor McGonagall will be speaking with you tomorrow after all your classes. Good-night."

Once all three of them reached the common room, they remained silent for a while. After all that was going on with Umbridge, this seems to be more worrying.

Finally Ron says,"Um.. Who is Newt Scamander?"

Hermione rolls her eyes and says,"Are you kidding me? How could you possibly not know who he is? He was the author of our first year textbook! Newt Scamander is on one of your chocolate frog cards, I would have suspected you to know."

"I'm sorry I don't know about, what did you call him, a magicrologist?" Ron said.

Before Hermione could quip back at him, Harry spoke up and said,"Maybe we should alert the order. Dumbledore said he was a student of his and by what we have heard of him, I highly doubt he is a dark wizard."

"Of course he isn't a dark wizard! First off he is a Hufflepuff and second, he helped to defeat Gellert Grindelwald's rebellion in the 1940s," Hermione said.

Harry then takes out parchment and a quill. He dips it in ink and writes a letter to Sirius Black, his godfather.

 _Dear Sirius,_

 _I am afraid that you no longer have to worry about the Ministry interfering at Hogwarts since an event that occurred in the forest will most likely take their attention away from our messages. It is safe to communicate now but I still warn caution._

 _I was wondering if you had any information on Newt Scamander, the famous magizoologist. The professors believe he time traveled with a time-turner. He appears younger, according to Hermione. He appeared in the forest bloody and bruised. Hagrid, Hermione, Ron and I took him to the hospital wing where he is being treated now. Professor Dumbledore told us not to speak to anyone about this incident unless it's to him or the other professors who know about this. He said it is most likely Umbridge will get involve and he said will probably be interrogated by her. We await your reply._

 _Harry_

Harry then seals the letter and gives it to Hedwig. The snowy owl flies off into the dark cold night.

"I think this was an eventful night," Hermione says,"I'm going to bed now, good-night." She makes her way up the stairs and hears Harry and Ron still speaking in the common room. She quietly changes into her pajamas and falls asleep.

 **In the morning...**

Harry, Ron and Hermione were requested to go to Professor McGonagall's office early in the morning like Dumbledore said. Inside the transfiguration classroom, the professor motioned for them to come closer. She closed the door with a flick of her wand and said,"After the events of last night, it is my concern that none of this information gets out, particularly about you three. The Ministry at Hogwarts is already breathing down our necks, I'd rather keep you from being interrogated by the Ministry. The cover story is similar. Hagrid found the young man and brought him to the infirmary." She pauses and waits for heir response. Hermione is the first to respond, asking,"Is alright? Will he be okay?" Professor McGonagall studies Hermione for a moment before responding,"The extent of his injuries is unknown. However, it is likely he will survive. It may take time for him to heal, though." The three sat there for a couple of moments when Harry asked,"Will we be able to visit him to check on how he is doing? I mean after all, we are the ones who helped Hagrid save him."

"I'm afraid not. It would be very suspicious but I suppose when the school finds out, you may visit after he recovered," Professor McGonagall replied."Now, get to your classes and not a word," she ordered them.

 **Three Days Later:**

Professor Dumbledore's secret was safe with the trio for a few days until a rumor was spread about a mysterious new visitor in the hospital wing. There were many theories but none of them came close. For the next four days, there was nonstop talk about it and for once, Hermione was glad that the spotlight was on Newt instead of the smear campaign against Harry and Professor Dumbledore. They continued on with their classes, pretending to not know a thing about what happened that night. However, five days after they sent the letter to Sirius, he responded back with another message.

The letter read:

 _Dear Harry, Ron and Hermione,_

 _I am very glad to receive your message. While I am grateful for the attention of Umbridge being focused on the new guest at Hogwarts, I am afraid will be in a lot of trouble. Time-turners are forbidden to use. There are very strict laws about using one and the consequences are deadly. You must be weary of him since any interaction with him can affect the future greatly. I suggest you do not speak of this even in private with one another since anyone can hear. If you were caught withholding information dealing with this matter, the same consequences could apply to the three of you as well._

 _To address the second part of your letter, I probably know as much as you do on but I will share what little information I have with you. All I know is that he was a magizoologist who was involved in the almost exposure of wizards in the United States. He was wrongly accused because it turns out that it was in fact an Obscurial and the work of Gellert Grindelwald. Of course you should know about the book he wrote since I had to use it as well when I was at Hogwarts. I do know that and Dumbledore did have a close relationship before he was expelled. After published his book, he reconnected with Dumbledore. At the time, Grindelwald was rising in power greatly and Dumbledore was afraid to become involved. If you did not know already, Dumbledore and Grindelwald were childhood best friends until the professor ended their relationship abruptly. I suspect that acted as a liaison for Dumbledore at that time._

 _I hope the information I shared with you in this letter is of some use. Please be cautious around Umbridge and around this matter. I do not want to hear of your expulsions._

 _-Sirus_

They were grateful for Sirius's response and the three of them sat in silence as they digested the new information that was given to them.

 **A/N: I got a little lazy toward the end. I'm currently sick but I'm trying to write a lot. In the next chapter, it will show Newt's interrogation and how the Ministry/the school reacts to him being there. Please review and give any suggestions!**

 **-Athena, Slytherin💚.**


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three:** **What's Bigger on the Inside**

Hermione could not sleep. She was restless, and even worse, she had no idea why. Perhaps it was because Umbridge promoted herself to the "High Inquisitor of Hogwarts" or maybe it was because she was worried about Newt. Hermione was deeply worried about him, not just because he was hurt, because of what the Ministry might do. She couldn't talk to Harry or Ron about it since Dumbledore and McGonagall warned them that people could be listening.

Hermione tried to fall asleep again when she heard movement coming from the common room. As quietly as she could, Hermione quickly went on the balcony overlooking the common room to only see Ron and Harry. Harry looked awful. He had sweat stains on his shirt and his hair was wet. Even worse, Harry was pale, paler then pale in fact. Hermione went down swiftly to the common room and stopped a few feet from the two.

"What happened?" she questioned.

"Harry had another vision, I think. I'm not actually sure. It's best he explains...," Ron said.

"I had another vision. But it was different from the one about the snake attacking Mr Weasley... I'm not sure what it was either but I know that someone was looking for something. And they were desperate, very desperate. However, something, um... interrupted it, I think," Harry said, still unsure.

"Did you wake anyone else?" Hermione asked.

"No, no I don't think so," Ron said.

"We shouldn't worry the others like we did last time. Harry, you must go find Professor McGonagall again or go to Professor Dumbledore. They will know what to do," Hermione said.

"I don't even know where they are! What if Dumbledore isn't in his office? Even then, he's been avoiding me as of lately," Harry said unsure.

"He will want to hear about it, now go!" Hermione said.

And with that, Harry left the common room to find some help. Now it was just Hermione and Ron in the common room. Hermione went over to the couch near the fire and sat down. She so desperately wanted to talk about Umbridge and Newt and what's been going on with Harry but her mind forced her to not speak of it.

"First that guy in the forest, now Umbridge as a high all mighty 'Inquisitor' and now Harry. This is the weirdest year yet, and we saw a giant three faced dog who loved the flute noise," Ron said jokingly.

"Ron... you know we aren't suppose to talk about any of that," Hermione said cautiously.

"I know, I know but I've been keeping things to myself and it can drive someone mad. I at least need to talk about it sometimes," Ron said.

"I was awake when you came down here. I couldn't fall asleep and I had no idea why. It was driving me crazy. I didn't know if it was about Newt or Umbridge or anything, really," she said.

They sat there silently for a while. It must have been an hour before anything really happened. There wasn't anything to talk about and for the time being, they just hoped for now. Sooner then later, Harry finally walked through the portrait and both Ron and Hermione jumped up and walked over to him quickly, eager to hear what he had to say.

"So, what happened?" Ron asked.

"Well, number one, I tried finding Professor McGonagall and instead ran into Snape. After I explained a part of what happened, he just took me straight to Professor Dumbledore. Then I spent some time with him practicing how to protect my mind. Dumbledore said Voldemort might be trying to use our... connection.. to gain information, I suppose," Harry said.

"Oh my god," was all that Ron could say.

"Ah, yes, I almost forgot. When Snape and I were walking towards Dumbledore's office, we sort of ran into that guy we found in the forest..," Harry said cautiously.

"What? Why was he out at this time of night?" Hermione asked.

Pausing for a moment, Harry finally said,"I'm not sure but Snape thought he was an intruder and cast a stupefy spell on him. After I explained to Dumbledore my vision, he told me to wait outside for a few minutes. When he was done, I saw Snape helping the man or something. He was holding his hand to his stomach."

"Can we make it clear that this man's name is Newt Scamander?" Hermione said annoyed.

"Yeah, um, sorry," Harry said.

"That's odd. He must have been hurt after Snape cast that spUell," Ron said.

"He didn't seem to have his wand either," Harry explained.

"Did Snape take it or..," Ron inquired.

"No, he checked if he had it after Snape cast the spell but he just came back to me and told the ma-I mean Newt, to come with him," Harry said, catching himself.

"I think I can finally go to sleep after the eventful night I've had. This has exhausted my mental capacity," Hermione said.

"Yes, I believe we could all use some sleep," Ron said, looking at Harry.

"Well then, I'm off to bed. Wouldn't want to fall asleep in Hagrid's class tomorrow, would we?" Hermione said with a smile as she went up the steps to the girls dormitory.

"Oh yeah, right, I forgot about that," said Ron.

 **In the morning...**

Hermione found Harry and Ron sitting at the Gryffindor table eating food and talking about something very intently. She walked over to them and sat down next to Harry, opposite of Ron. She took a bagel and started to eat.

"Oh hey Hermione," Ron said in a greeting way.

"Hello. Did you fall back asleep last night?" Hermione asked Harry.

"Um, yeah I did but it was pretty hard at first," he said.

"What do you suppose Hagrid has planned for us today?" Ron asked.

"I dunno but I hope he's feeling better. Those were nasty cuts and bruises he got from his mission," Harry said.

"Well whatever Hagrid has planned for us today, I bet it will be wonderful," Hermione said with hope.

"Yeah, well there's a rumor that Umbridge will be there. She's observing all the teachers and how well they teach their classes. She's driving all the professors mad," Ron said.

"Don't tell me you heard that from Malfoy," Hermione said,"you shouldn't listen to him, you know."

"What? Why would I listen to Malfoy? I heard that from Dean and Seamus," Ron said defensively."Even worse, Gryffindors have a combined class with Slytherins today anyway."

"Look, whatever the case may be, let's worry about it later. Besides we still need to find a room for," Harry paused for a moment and said in a whisper,"for the D.A."

"You're right. I've done some research and I think I may know of a place. I'll tell you after our class with Hagrid in private. We should go now, we might be late," Hermione said.

With that, Hermione quickly finished her bagel and the trio gathered their possessions and headed towards the exit of the castle. It was still snowing after Christmas and they were walking in what must have been at least, if not more, then a foot of snow. With the combined brightness of the sun and the glittering texture of the snow, Hermione could barely see where she was going. They finally made it to the area not too far into the forest where Hagrid would be holding his lesson. They saw groups of Slytherins and Gryffindors talking but there was no sign of Hagrid.

Hermione went over to Neville and asked,"Where is Hagrid?"

"I dunno, he said he would be back in a few minutes and just headed off into the forest. It's been five minutes I suppose," Neville said completely confused.

The class waited for what must have been 25 minutes before they heard noises that sounded like wings batting and horses. Harry looked in awe as Hagrid came from the forest five minutes after hearing the noises.

"Those are the thestrals!" Harry exclaimed,"You see, I'm not crazy."

"Harry, we still can't see them," Ron said quietly.

"Well of course not! You must've had a near death experience in order to see 'em," Hagrid said,"Just a few mor minutes and I'll be set up for the lesson."

They only have about 15 minutes left and by the time Hagrid was finished preparing, Umbridge, in a green cloak and cap, came over with a clipboard and a very fake smile. Hermione almost forgot about the rumor of her coming and was only hoping for the best.

"Er, yes, today we will be learnin' about thestrals," Hagrid announced.

"Excuse me?" Umbridge said.

"Oh, um, you know, those large winged horses," Professor Hagrid said while imitating them with his arms.

Umbridge then wrote on her clipboard and said what she was writing loud enough for everyone to hear,"Has to resort... to... crude sign... language..."

Hermione was ready to punch her in the throat. She could hear the Slytherin's chuckling on the opposite side of the Gryffindors. Before she could do anything that would get her expelled, Ron put a hand on her shoulder and looked at her. She could see in his eyes that he had the same feelings as her.

"As I was sayin'...er, what was I sayin'?" he asked.

"Appears to have... short memory... loss...," Umbridge said and wrote away on her clipboard.

Well, Umbridge would have a short memory if Hermione punched her.

Hagrid continued on with his lesson. He was talking about how thestrals were invisible and you could only see them once you experienced a near death experience as well as understood the importance of death. For those who could not see them, thestrals were skeleton-like horses with large wings. Hermione couldn't see them so she didn't know where to place her eyes. Instead, she continued to look at Hagrid. He was about to continue on the personality of thestrals, how they are compassionate, when Umbridge interrupted again in the most obnoxious way.

"Are you fully aware the Ministry of Magic has classified thestrals as highly dangerous animals?"

"Thesteals are not dangerous, not at all!" Hagrid exclaimed.

"Seems to show signs... of pleasure... at the ideas of... violence...," she said aloud again.

Before Hagrid could respond, a voice came up not too far away from beside the Slytherins.

"Professor Hagrid is correct, thestrals are not dangerous unless you provoke them like all other animals, Professor Umbridge," the mysterious voice said.

When the person came into view, not only was Umbridge stunned, but so was Hermione. It was none other then Newt Scamander. One of her favorite, if not her favorite, heroes. All Hermione could do at the time was just smile and stare at him. He seemed like an extremely wonderful person but as soon as he said it, Hermione could see some of the regret in his eyes. All she knew is that he couldn't stand by and watch these creatures be painted in a wrong way, just how Hermione couldn't stand by and not learn how to defend herself in her the Defense Against the Dark Arts classes.

"Ah, Mr Scamander, a pleasure to see you. I hope you are feeling alright," she said sweetly.

All Newt could do was just nod his head at what Umbridge said.

"I hope you do know that thestrals are indeed dangerous since their invisibility can cause many complications," she continued on.

"They are not invisible to those who have experienced a death-like situation. And even then, they usually avoid people and are extremely compassionate. So, no, they are not dangerous Professor Umbridge," Newt said.

Hermione was in awe. No one, not even Professor McGonagall or Professor Snape, had ever responded to Umbridge in this way.

"Why are you even here? You are clearly interrupting a class, something that will not go unaccounted for," Umbridge replied.

Newt stepping closer toward the beautiful skeleton like horses replied,"Professor Dumbledore requested that I see Hagrid after his class. I did not realize it was only a few minutes early. Besides, it looks as though the students have learned that thestrals are indeed not dangerous, even when invisible. They avoid humans unless we approach them," he said with a smile.

Hermione could only see how furious Umbridge was at this moment in time. It must have been surprising to see someone stand up to her in such a way. She was clearly not happy with her authority being challenged. Even the Slytherins looked disgusted and angry in the same way Umbridge had been.

"Class dismissed!" Umbridge said quickly. She then stormed off towards the castle shortly afterward with the Slytherins in tow behind her.

All Hermione could think of was meeting Newt. She had so many questions for him and now that the whole school will know of his presence, Hermione had hope she will be able to meet with him for a while.

Most of the Gryffindors were whispering and talking about it as they left but Hermione grabbed Harry and Ron and went over to Hagrid who was approaching Newt. The author was obviously here for something.

"Ah, yes, yer case. But did Professor Dumbledore say you can't help her creatures for now?" Hagrid asked.

"Well, yes, but Madam Pompfrey is allowing me to visit them. Please, they haven't been away from me this long and they might cause a riot," Newt said with pleading eyes.

"Well alright, but no helpin'. I assume Professor Dumbledore has told you I am takin' care of yer creatures for now?" Hagrid replied.

"Yes he has, and if they haven't escaped yet, then it must mean you are doing a fantastic job," Newt said smiling.

Hermione, Ron and Harry waiting near Hagrid's cabin while he was taking to Neet. Once he was finished speaking, he came over to them with the author.

"Oh, Mr Scamander, this is Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and Harry Potter. They are fifth year students currently here at Hogwarts. They helped me take you to the infirmary," Hagrid said.

"Pleased to meet you Mr Scamander," Ron said.

Hermione couldn't do anything but stare at Newt. All he did was nod towards Ron direction and Hagrid, sensing how awkward it is about to become, leads Newt into his cabin. The trio follow in, very curious about Newt's case.

"Here yer are," Hagrid said as he handed Newt a battered brown leather case.

"Thank you Hagrid," Newt replied, making his way towards the door until Hagrid said,"Woah, where do you think yer goin'? Yer suppose to go in and meet with yer critters so I can make sure ye don't try helpin' them and hurtin' yerself more."

Newt looked a little depressed. Hermione was curious about how Newt could of fit all of his creatures into one little case. She assumed it was because he placed an extension charm, which would be the most logical reason.

Consenting to Hagrid's rules, Newt plopped his case on the floor and opened it. He stepped into it and went down a ladder. Hermione knew it. While she was feelin clever for knowing about this trick, Ron and Harry looked bewildered. Ron couldn't begin to place words in his mouth to speak. Before anyone could say anything, Newt re-appeared at the top of his suitcase. Half his body was looking at the three students.

"Well, don't you want to look around?" he asked.

The three students looked at each other and they all nodded very eagerly. They looked at Hagrid for approval and jerked his head toward the opening of the case.

"Go on now, if ye need me, I'll be outside tending to the thestrals," he said.

With that he left and Newt gave a devilish smile. He retracted down into his case rather quickly. Ron, Hermione, and Harry all gathered around the case. None of them were willing to go down first. Tired of waiting for someone to take initiative, Hermione stepped into the case and went down the ladder.

At the bottom was a rather small wooden room. It wasn't too big or small but the rows of cabinets with different books, bottles and other mysterious items made it look smaller then usual.

Newt was looking around, checking to make sure everything was how he last left it. Soon Harry came down, then Ron. Newt noticed them finally and motioned for them to come with him near a door. He opened it to reveal a small area with many tools and items as well as a large variety of different foods. The most surprising thing about this area was that there were multiple entries to different areas. One led to a large rock in a desert-like landscape while the other led to a mix between a forest and jungle. There were so many different biomes and landscapes.

"This is a place I take care of creatures as well as nurture them. I protect them from being persecuted and living tortuous lives," he said."There are over 120 different type of magical species in here. I can only imagine how many there are in 1995."

"This is absolutely bloody brilliant," Ron said.

Newt looked on with a smile and bowed his head a little bit. He still seemed a little shy around the trio.

"Why don't we start this way," Newt suggested as the three students followed him.

Hermione, Harry and Ron follow Newt into the first enclosure. It is a vast woodland area with many green trees. Hermione steps onto the floor of the biome. It is made of many leaves of all different shades and colors or brown, yellow, and red. There is some dirt and woodchips as well, she notices. Hermione was breath was gone at the sight of the various creatures ahead of her. Even she didn't know most of their names. The trio continued to follow Newt as he checked on all his creatures. He went over to a nest made of what looked like green vines and bamboo. Inside of this little nest were snake-like animals with gorgeous wings made of blue, green and purple feathers.

"What are those?" Ron asked.

"Oh these?" Newt said as one slithered into his hands,"These are Occamys. They are choranaptyxic, which means they grow to fill space."

"That's amazing," Harry said in wonder.

Hermione began to wander away. She was interested in the green stick creatures on a wooden tree. She heard in the background a conversation being held between Newt and Ron.

"How do you feed all of these beasts?" asked Ron.

"With immense difficulty," replied Newt.

Ron then continued to ask various questions on how he created the case to be this way, how he collected all the creatures and why the Ministry didn't arrest him for having so many illegal animals. At this time, the green stick figures were playing around with Hermione. Some would hop on her arm and she would twirl them around while others would look on with curiosity. Once Newt was done with the occamys, he saw Hermione and came over to her.

"These ar-"

"Bowtruckles. I know, they are extremely adorable. They can pick locks, can they not?" interrupted Hermione.

Newt looking stunned at first, recovered his shock and nodded his head. He then revealed a Bowtruckle on his sleeve.

"This is Pickett. He had a cold and needed body warmth. He won't go back to his home tree now...There are some.. attachment issues," Newt said."Pickett, they won't bite," Newt said as he tried lifting Pickett into the tree with the other Bowtruckles. Pickett was hanging on with his fingers and wouldn't let Newt's arm go.

"Awh," Ron said.

Both Hermione and Harry looked at him peculiarly.

"What, he's so cute!" Ron exclaimed.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Now this is why they all accuse me of favorites," Newt whispered to Pickett.

Hermione couldn't help but let a soft laugh out.

"Well, anyway, this way," Newt said as he led the three students into another section of the case. As they walked, Hermione looked at the tree full of beautiful orange leaves as they passed it. As soon as they reached it, the orange leaves started to fly away in a small group. It was perhaps one of the most magnificent things Hermione has ever seen. She also saw very exotic birds of pink, blue and other gorgeous colors.

Newt led them to another part of the case that was similar to the forest area but with more denser and larger trees. In that area of the forest was none other then a Nundu.

"Oh my god! You have a Nundu!" Hermione exclaimed as it roared.

"A what?" Harry asked.

"Don't worry, the Nundu is perfectly harmless unless you provoke it. It's a shame the Ministry think all of these creatures are dangerous when they aren't. They only become dangerous when provoked, just like humans," Newt philosophized.

Hermione thought what he said was true in different ways. Maybe he was right about the Ministry after all.

They reached an area that looked like the area where Newt kept his aquatic creatures. There was a large cube made of water held together by rope. Inside of it were different species of fish that Hermione has never seen. Apparently this was not the attraction Newt wanted to show them. He led the small group over to another aquatic animal with large and long tentacles. It wrapped itself around Newt's shoulders.

"You guys can go explore if you want to. I must tend to Bill here. However, I ask of you to not enter the winter biome," Newt said,"and stay together please!"

Without a thought, Harry led the way to these adorable llama like animals withblur and green eyes as wide as the moons, glittering in happiness.

"These are mooncalfs. Aren't they just adorable," Hermione remarked as two nuzzled up against her.

"I suppose this is a good place as any to talk about whatever we wish," Ron said.

Harry looked onto Ron and began speaking,"Why do you think Mr Scamander traveled to the future? He must be here for something."

"Well why don't we just ask him?" Ron said.

"Ronald, that is extremely rude to ask him of such a thing," Hermione said,"Besides, if you were listening to the professors, you would know he attempted to travel back in time."

"When did the professors say anything about that?"

"I overheard Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore speaking about it before we entered her Transfiguration classroom for class, not the time we had to go see her alone," Hermione replied.

"Well then, that changed he question then," Harry said,"Why did he attempt to go back in time then?"

"Well he did come from 1926, perhaps we can find what happened during that year that involved him. I mean after all, it is the year before he released _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,_ " Hermione replied.

"Then it's settled, we'll look it up later," Ron said.

Before they could go back and find Newt, Hermione noticed a small furry black animal was on his shoulder reaching for his glasses.

"Harry! Watch out, on your shoulder!" Hermione yelled.

Harry frantically started to wave his arms around with the small furry animal holding on tightly to his arms.

"What is it!" Harry exclaimed.

"Calm down! Let me get it off'" Ron said.

The mass hysteria and loudness caught the attention of Newt who came over in a rush and saw the small black furry animal.

"Hold still!" Newt commanded.

Harry tried to stay as still as he could. Newt walked over to him. Hermione just notice that the small beast was gone and so were Harry's glasses. Newt quietly circled Harry and saw a small lump on his back that was breathing endlessly.

"Harry, take your robe off slowly," Newt said. Harry took off his robe diligently and walked away from it. Newt took out his wand and swished it. The robe undone it self to reveal a platypus like animal sitting there with Harry's glasses. Newt and the animal stared at each other for a few moments before the small pest made a run for it.

"ACCIO," Newt yelled and the animal came flying back into his hands. He held onto the beast as tightly as he could.

"This would be a niffler. He is attracted to anything and everything shiny. The small boarder around your glasses were shiny, that must've attracted him towards it," Newt said.

"Absolutely not," Newt said annoyed and with that, he took the niffler by its feet and hung it upside down. Golden treasures came pouring out of its pouch. Newt continued to do this until he saw small round spectacles. At this moment, he took the niffler and set it down. Newt quickly grabbed Harry's glasses as the niffler put all the shiny items back into its pouch.

"Here you are. Sorry about that, the niffler is very greedy," Newt said apologetically.

"That was amazing," Ron said.

"Well that was an eventful hour, hopefully Professor Hagrid and Professor Dumbledore don't kill me for taking care of Bill and this niffler," Newt said.

"I highly doubt that. Thank you Mr Scamander for showing us your case. This was absolutely amazing but I'm afraid we will be late for our classes if we stay any longer," Hermione said.

"Ah yes, what class do you have next?" Newt asked.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts," Ron said in distaste.

"Oh, that would be Professor Umbridge then," Newt asked as he led the trio back to the small wooden room.

"Unfortunately yes," Harry said.

"Harry!" Hermione scolded Harry.

"Oh don't worry, I'm not much of a fan of her's either. Your secret is safe with me," Newt said.

Inside the small wooden room, the three went up the ladder once again. Newt followed them up and when they were all out, he closed the latches on the case and placed it near Hagrid's table. Outside, the three said their thank you and goodbyes again to Mr Scamander and headed back towards the castle. Once they reached the entrance, they started heading towards the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom.

When they reached it, however, no one was inside, not even Umbridge.

"We couldn't of have missed the class, could we?" Ron said in an unsure way.

"Oh my god, we are so dead," Hermione whispered.

With a run, they sprinted as fast as they could to the great hall. Inside were plenty of students eating their afternoon lunch.

"Oh dear," Hermione said,"How did we miss our second and third class? That was both Defense Aginst the Dark Arts and Transfiguration!"

Ron had a horrid look on his face,"Professor McGonagall is going to kill us!"

"You're more worried about Professor McGonagall then Umbridge?" Harry asked.

"That woman is mad, Harry, mad I tell you," Ron said.

 **A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I love writing from both Newt and Hermione's point of views so much. They are such lovely and complex characters. This is the longest chapter I have ever written to date and I was going to continue with Hermione, Ron, Hagrid and Harry going inside and learning about Newt's case but I'm quite busy today and so I'll write it and add it into the chapter. I was originally going to do another POV from Hermione and I might still about her spending some time with Newt but I think the story would flow best if we found out what Newt's punishment might be from the Ministry as well as Umbridge and Dumbledore's response to what Newt did in Hagrid's class! Just hold on tight, I promise to get the second part out! Also the story hit 1,000 views! Wow thank you guys! As always, please leave a review!**

 **-Athena, Slytherin💚.**

 **UPDATE:**

 **Ok so the next chapter will be from Hermione's point of view. The next chapter may be short because it is basically going to be Hermione describing the case and it will end on an event happening. I have so many good ideas for descriptions. Also in the future, to write longer chapters, I may release one part then another in one day sincen I know the feeling when you want a chapter to come out sometimes (hopefully you feel that way about my story XD) and even if it's a small part so watch out for that!**

 **While writing the second part of this chapter, I sort of put a little bit of my inner fangirl over Newt into Hermione because I feel like this is how she would have acted around like all of her heroes, even if they are female. I mean, had I ever met Eddie Redmayne or J.K. Rowling, I'm pretty sure I would pass out on the spot or just stare. I'm not sure if I completely want to do Newtmione yet. I have a ton of ideas to continue after I'm finished with this story. I'm pretty sure I'm going to make it in a two - five part story. I'm stuck between pairings right now since I see how newtina could work out but then I see newtmone. I'm not sure if I can write Tina's character well yet because she is so complex, in a good way, and the fact that we have only seen the beginning of her personality and relationship with Newt. But this is for the future.**

 **-Athena, Slytherin💚.**


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: The Minister for Magic's Letter**

After the three students left, Newt went outside to find Hagrid so that he could thank him again for allowing him to see his creatures. Newt had been away from them for such a long time that he could barely remember the last time he saw them. Then again, Newt had been unconscious for the past week so that must be taken into consideration.

When Newt stepped outside of Hagrid's cabin, the half-giant was no where to be seen. He put his hand on the cool stone and dragged it along as he walked on the perimeter of the cabin. Waiting for a few moments, Newt decided it would be best to return to the castle and speak with Professor Dumbledore. Closing the old wood door to Hagrid's cabin, Newt walked slowly through the snow back towards the grand castle.

He finally made it to an entrance to an old courtyard. There was stone pavement and four different open aired hallways leading into the castle. Newt had always been confused about which corridors led to different rooms and different courtyards leading to various entrances. The moving stairs were especially confusing for him. He wondered why Hogwarts never gave the students a map. Almost everyone becomes lost or they are late to almost every class. Trying to retrace his steps from earlier, Newt found the infirmary wing after what must have been a 20 minute search. While this was not his destination, Newt thought it would be best to talk to Madam Pompfrey. Maybe while he speaks to her, he can find out which way the Headmaster's office is. However, when he walked inside, the room was deserted. There was no sign of Madam Pompfrey or anyone having been there in the last 24 hours.

Newt walked over to one of the beds and sat down. He waited there awkwardly for what must have been 10 minutes before there was commotion that could be heard. Newt stood up and saw Madam Pompfrey, leading two students holding a stretcher with a young student. They placed her on one of the hospital beds and the other two students who carried her left. Newt noticed she was wearing Quidditch robes, there must have been a game today, he thought. Madam Pompfrey noticed Newt staring at the young girl.

"How was your trip today, Mr Scamander?" she asked.

"It was quite alright," Newt replied.

"After I am done with this student, I must check on your wounds and see if they are properly healing. I should know by then how long they will take to heal," the nurse said.

Before Newt could say anything, Professor McGonagall stepped through the door and quickly came next to the young girl. He guessed that she was in her third year. The student had long, gorgeous orange hair. She had some freckles and was lying very still.

"Is she alright? She fell down from her broom and I believe she broke her arm," Professor McGonagall said to Madam Pompfrey.

"Oh yes, indeed her arm is broken, as well as her collarbone. She fell unconscious when she hit the ground," Madam Pompfrey replied.

Newt's eyes continued to look to the floor as Madam Pompfrey dashed around the room, collecting different potions of all sorts of colors and all different sizes as Professor McGonagall looked on.

"Poor girl," Newt heard Professor McGonagall mutter. The professor then looked up at Newt.

"Let me know when she has awoken, I will alert her brothers, however, one of them is missing seeing that I didn't have him in my class earlier," the professor said as she walked over to Newt."Mr Scamander, Professor Dumbledore is awaiting you. Why haven't you gone to see him yet?"

Newt, feeling quite embarrassed, looked up at the girl on the hospital bed, avoiding the stern woman's stare.

"In all honesty," Newt began softly and quietly,"I had no idea where his office was. I had trouble getting here myself."

Professor McGonagall looked on with some amusement.

"Well no matter, he is looking for you. If you could follow me to his office. Please try to keep up."

The woman took Newt down corridor after corridor. Some were filled with beautiful arches and carved architecture while others were dimly lit and full of plain, rotting stone bricks. The castle was indeed a treasure. There were so many mysterious to it that one may never know what they all are. Along the way, Newt saw some students walk by and others huddling in groups reading or talking. Some would be practicing magic and Professor McGonagall would yell at them to be careful. It was all very familiar and heartbreaking at the same time. While Newt remembered these hallways, and all the good memories of learning the exquisite magic, he also realized how much of a nightmare it could be. These again brought back thoughts of Leta. Newt instead tried focusing on the dancing shadows castes along the light of the torches as the professor led him down another poor lit hallway.

The got to an open aired corridor and at the end was the all-too-familiar gold eagle statue.

"PhoenixFeathers," Professor McGonagall said.

The statue began to turn as it revealed steps moving upward.

"Well, go on then. I have other matters to attend to," she said, and with a click of her heels, Professor McGonagall hurriedly rushed down the hallway in which they came from.

Newt walked up the stone steps into the small area with the same wooden door he saw last night. Before he could knock on it, the door swung open carefully, but quickly, to reveal Professor Dumbledore reading a book rather intently.

"Come in Newt," he said without lifting his eyes from the book.

Newt stepped inside and closed the door quietly. The Headmaster's room was an architectural beauty. There was a medium sized area with many shelves with glass windows full of different sorts of items such as potions, books and artifacts. There was a small table in the middle of it with an exotic plant. The area then led into an arch with two pillars. Inward was Dumbledore's desk that had many books and a globe on it. Behind his desk were two grand stairs leading up to a door. Newt wondered what was behind that door but he guessed it was just Professor Dumbledore's living quarters.

He waited there awkwardly while Professor Dumbledore kept looking at the book. Finally, he closed it and placed his spectacles down. He walks over to his desk and motioned Newt to come forward. He did as he was told and stood in front of the desk.

"Please, take a seat, we have much to discuss," Professor Dumbledore said, motioning towards the seat.

Newt sat down and immediately avoided Professor Dimbledore's state. Even as an adult, Newt could not look into his icy grey eyes. While they are sometimes full of love, they could be full of disappointment and that is what scares Newt the most, which type of eyes he will see.

"The Minister for Magic wished he could be here to speak with you in person, so that we may both speak to you about what happened," Dumbledore continued on."Instead, he has requested me to give you a letter to read. I do already know what he says, Newt."

Holding out the frail letter, Newt took it with shaking hands. He opened the red wax and opened the letter.

 _Dear Newton Scamander,_

 _I had heard of the dilemma you found yourself in. It is the Ministry's responsibility to restrict any use of time-turners, specifically those used for going into the past. However, it has come to my and the Department of Mysteries attention that you accidentally used a time-turner to come to the future. This had never been done before and currently, there is not any laws that could punish you for this. The science of it is complicated but the DoM explained to my knowledge that while you can affect events in the future, it is not as consequential as going in the past._

 _I am reluctant to inform you, though, that there is no available time-turner that you can use to return to 1926, I'm afraid. All of the Ministry's were destroyed in an accident and the only other organization to have one is MACUSA, and they will not allow just one person to go back. In their eyes, they want you to accept the consequences, assuming you will be stuck in 1995._

 _I must warn you, if somehow you are able to return, whether it be tomorrow or next week, you must not tell anyone what you learned in the future. This can derail many timelines and one different action can prevent something good or evil from happening, something that must not occur. Because of this, I have asked Professor Dumbledore to oblivate you before you leave. It is for the best and when you return, it would be as though nothing happened. I hope you understand and respect the decisions of the Ministry, otherwise there would be other consequences._

 _-The Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge._

Newt sat there, stunned he was not being sent to Azkaban or having an even worse punishment. Signaling he was done with the letter to Professor Dumbledore. Newt slowly closed the latter and placed it on his lap.

"What the Minister meant, if it was not clear, is that if you do anything to upset the Ministry, they will have to arrest and interrogate you at the Ministry instead of Hogwarts. There would be worse consequences then. I assume sooner or later, the media will learn of you being here at Hogwarts," Dumbledore explained,"and because of this, the Minister and I both agreed that it would be best if you know something's about yourself in the future. You should be grateful Newt, had the Minister and yourself not been good friends in the future, I would think there could have been worse implications."

Newt looked up to see Dumbledore staring at him, his eyes full of neither love or disappointment.

"First off, you should know that you indeed publish _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,"_ Dumbledore explained,"It has become a big success and a tremendous help in learning about many magical creatures."

Letting that sit in for a few moments, Newt was ecstatic that his work was published. Even better, it became a success and Newt's dream of helping wizards and witches a like learn about them was icing on top of the cake.

"That's-That's... wonderful...," Newt finally stammered out.

"Yes, it is even one of Hogwarts most trusted textbooks," Dumbledore said in a proud way."Before I can continue, you must enlighten me about what has happened in your point of view from 1926.

Newt began to lace his fingers through his own, slouching in his chair as he does so. He began telling Dumbledore of how he went to New York and why, as well as the current events of that time- Grindelwald's attacks, the Ministry wanting him to write a book and the tension in America at the time. Newt then described his time with Jacob, Tina and Queenie while searching and capturing the beasts that escaped from his case. And finally, Newt explained the fight with Grindelwald and the discovery of the Obscurial. During his time speaking about Grindelwald, Dumbledore listened very intently and seemed almost heartbroken to hear the news again.

"I see. Well then, that allows me to limit what you know," Dumbledore said."In today's events, there are some similarities. Before you can ask, yes Grindelwald was defeated, but I cannot tell you and if you go looking for answers, I cannot stop that. However, have caution Newt, for those answers may not be explainations you want to hear. In today's world, a new dark wizard, Voldemort, he calls himself, is almost copying Grindelwald's exact moves, except for those involving the Obscurial."

"Well.. that is a relief to hear," Newt said quietly and softly,"go on."

"In 1995, you are one of the world's most renowned magizoologists. That is all I can say about your future currently. Please do not go looking for more answers Newt, they will lead you to more trouble and worry," Professor Dumbledore said.

"Thank you Professor Dumbledore. For everything," Newt said with a smile, looking up.

"Of course, Hogwarts is open to everyone," he replied.

"Can I ask a question?"

"That in itself is a question, but continue, yes," Dumbledore said smartly.

"Well, if I cannot return to 1926 yet, what am I to do? Does the Ministry request I stay here or do something else? I have no plans on what and where to go as of right now," Newt said. Dumbledore paused for a few moments, thinking on how to correctly word his next thoughts.

"The Ministry has requested that you stay here at Hogwarts so that I may watch over you carefully. You do have a knack for getting yourself into trouble," he replied,"Concerning on what to do while you're here, I haven't a clue. You can feel free to wander the castle and other areas, besides the forest, but I ask that you do not interrupt any classes."

Newt immediately looked down, knowing about what happened earlier. He felt guilty now. It was as though Professor Dumbledore knew. It was always like that around him however. Newt felt like glass, as clear as day, and Professor Dumbledore read him very well. Maybe it was his movements or behaviors, but Newt still wondered how the professor did it.

"It is getting rather late, supper is in a few hours. Thank you for speaking with me Newt. Feel free to come here at anytime, whenever I'm not in a meeting, however," Dumbledore quickly adds on. The professor walked towards the door with Newf, holding it open as he left. Again, Newt walked down those steps and was still uncertain about which way the library was. Of course Newt was going to search for answers, which answers, he was unsure of though. He was slightly afraid of what he would read. Perhaps Newt could find a different subject to learn about or read on different species. There should be plenty more species around in 1995 then there were in 1926.

Trying to make his way towards the library, he made many detours. It was quite a while since he had visited the library, one of Newt's least favorite rooms in Hogwarts. Walking down different corridors of different color and size, he found a grand entrance. It was either the entrance hall, the great hall or what Newt hoped was the library entrance. When he walked in, the smell of books overwhelmed him. Yes, it was indeed the library.

There were many bookshelves, as high as the roof and mind you, the roof was very high. Books were floating all over the place, some going to the top shelves and others organizing themselves on the lower ones. There were some students here and there, sitting at the desks at the bottom on the shelves. It seemed as though the library expanded, Newt could not find the open hall area where there were plenty of open seats in the middle with the restricted section in the back.

Suddenly, Newt felt inspired.

Transfiguration was Newt's worst subject area. However, now that he was stuck in an alien terrain, with his old Transfiguration professor nearby, Newt thought he would give the subject another go. He smiled at the thought of Leta having to tutor him during their own time in the library. Oh, how he longed to see her and feel her presence. Newt missed her so much and his smile quickly turned into one of no emotion and some bitterness. His thought were jagged by accidentally running into a book flying in midair, trying to place itself in a bookcase.

"Sorry," Newt murmured.

The book simply hurtled itself at Newt and hit him in the shoulder lightly before returning to placing itself back into the shelf. Newt found the Transfiguration section and got a few books to start reading. About 20 minutes into it, Newt felt tired and sleepy. This was boring him greatly. He was reading on the different areas of Transfiguration when he came across something called an Animagus. This grabbed Newt's attention.

Apprently, an Animagus was a witch or wizard that could transform or morph into an animal form. Newt thought this would be quite helpful in his field of work, as a way to sneak up on animals without detection, as well as a way to bond with some of the less aggressive ones too. It would be a great practical joke on the beasts inside his case as well. Newt smiled at this thought.

Closing and returning the books, Newt quickly made his way to find more about Animagus. He couldn't find anything remote to how to transform into one, except that it takes at least a month and it is difficult to do. Figuring it would be best to go to Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall, Newt went back tot he dreadful books on all the areas of Transfiguration. He planned on asking questions on all areas of Transfiguration so that the subject area of Animagus would go undetected by the professors, in case they wanted him to stop.

Leaning and half siting on the desk at the bookshelf, Newt opened a book. He was deeply reading and making up bogus questions to himself when he heard some familiar voices on the other side of the bookshelf.

"Look here, the Room of Requirement would be a great area for us to hold meetings," a clear feminine voice said.

"What even is that?" a male voice said.

"It's a room that can take on the appearance of anything that a person needs. For our purpose, we need a secret room for our Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons that will be kept secret from Umbridge," the female voice said again.

"Considering she teaches us-," another voice said.

"Okayyy," the other male voice said before his friend could say anything bad.

Newt felt the need to help them considering that one, Dolores Umbridge is a complete idiot and two, because Newt has previously been in the room, loads of times in fact.

Newt closed the book and placed it on the end of the long table where he was reading and turned the corner to see Hermione sitting down looking at an open book with Harry sitting next to her and Ron standing up between the two.

"So, I hear you are looking for the Room of Requirement," Newt said with a half smile devilishly.

Hermione had a worried look on her face, as though she was going to throw up while Harry stayed in an emotionless trance, stunned and looking at Newt.

"You-You... you aren't going to um... tell Professor Dumbledore right?" Hermione spat out carefully.

"No, no of course not. I personally do not like Professor Umbridge as well, that's our secret. I shouldn't be voicing my opinion to you however," Newt said.

The trio then returned to their normal color and seemed to lighten the mood even more.

"I have in fact, been to the Room of Requirement on several occasions while at my time at Hogwarts. I was interested in seeing why you are seeking it."

"Well it's complicated," Harry said.

"Professor Umbridge won't teach us real Defense Against the Dark Arts spells and ways to protect ourselves because she and the Ministry are afraid of Dumbledore," Ron said bluntly.

"That is putting it bluntly," Hermione said, taking a note on his tone.

"Ah, I see. And why would the Ministry be afraid of Professor Dumbledore?" Newt asked curiously.

"It's complicated again, maybe another time, when you have loads of time, we can explain," Harry said."Let's just say that we're all in a fight over a topic."

"Um, so can you help us?" Hermione asked, avoiding Newt's stare.

"Of course, the Room of Requirement is open to anyone and everyone needing it," Newt said.

"How soon can we find it?" Ron asked.

"Well, first off, we may not find it on our first try, it doesn't work like that. It took me a week before I found it after reading about it. We can try whenever you have freetime," Newt said.

"That won't be one of our luxuries soon," Harry said."We accidentally missed two classes today, since we were spending time in your case."

"Oh, I am terribly sorry. Maybe I can speak with your professors. Which classes did you miss?" Newt said apologetically.

"I'm afraid you won't be able to change either of their minds. But you can try I guess. It was Professor Umbridge and Professors McGonagall's classes we missed," Hermione said.

"I'm afraid I may not be able to change Professor Umbridge's mind considering she dislikes me very much but Professor McGonagall may sway to your side. I was going to see her after dinner in fact. I will just tell her I accidentally transformed the Niffler into a goblet," Newt said with a smile,"After all, I assume Professor Dumbledore told her of how horrid I am at Transfiguration."

Hermione and Ron let out a small laugh while Harry just smiled.

"I must be going now, I have to speak to Professor Dumbledore and I must do some research. Right now I am being forced to stay in the infirmary wing until further notice so stop by if I'm there. Otherwise, ask Madam Pompfrey, she will know. I will notify her that you are allowed to ask that question. Perhaps we can go find the Room of Requirement tomorrow," Newt said.

"Yes, that would be very helpful. Thank you again," Hermione said. Newt smiled and nodded. He then made his way for the door and walked out of the library. He made his way down the corridors and found himself in a deserted hallway with an open circular area at the end of the abandoned hallway looking out over the courtyards. Newt carefully made his way down it, the hallway was dusty and he felt a sense of not belonging here. Newt looked back and the hallway seemed to reflect the one in front of him. He slightly panicked, as of right now there was no way out unless Newt apparated, that could be harmful considering his wound, however.

Newt continued on with caution nonetheless. Once he came to the circular opening, there was a swoosh. At first it was a calming breeze and then it soon became a hard blow, as though it was moving. Newt looked back out over the opening and turned forward, looking down the hallway.

Suddenly, a quiet voice came out of no where and said,"Boo."

 **A/N: I hope you enjoyed his chapter! I tried making it extra long for you guys since I missed updating it on two days. So sorry about that! I had a writers block at the beginning of the chapter and I was reading up on the maruaders (if I even spelt that right). I thought it would be interesting if Newt became an Animagus but it takes such a long time to do that. I do still plan on Newt becoming an Animagus but it will take at least a month for him to do so and a few more weeks because well, Newt will have disastrous results in trying the first few times, in my opinion. I think I'm going to make him a Basset Hound bc Eddie Redmayne (the actor who plays Newt) said his patronus was a Basset Hound and I read that Animagus forms could be those from their patronuses like Professor McGonagall. I was originally going to do a bird or something but I decided to stay true towards Eddie. However idk if it's canon or confirmed that a Basett Hound is actually Newt's patronus so.**

 **Also, earlier in the chapter, the girl that was hurt was Ginny. At this time in the Order of the Phoenix (book), Harry was banned from playing Quidditch, along with Fred and George, due to attacking Draco. I thought I was going to have Newt and Ginny interact since I had a few ideas but I felt a writers block as explained and rushed a little to the Animagus part.**

 **Second, I don't know if I want Newt involved with Dumbledore's Army at the moment. I feel like it should still be Harry who teaches it and I just may make Newt the awkward onlooker or something. I am most likely going to have him teach the students about how to use/have animals help them in combat like the Swooping Evil or something.**

 **Lastly, I think I'm going to have Newt stick around even in the Half-Blood Prince storyline but he isn't going to be involved in Dumbledore and Harry's mission if I ever do that, or if I get far enough.**

 **As always, please leave a review and have a great day!**

 **-Athena, Slytherin💚.**


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five: Helga Hufflepuff's Ghost**

Newt immediately let out a small scream. He was startled by the ghost until it revealed itself to be a ghostly image of a plump and short woman wearing beautiful robes with her brown hair half up and half down.

"Hello dearie! Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you! I haven't scared a student like this in forever!" the ghost said in a high voice.

Newt stayed silent and remained on the floor he fell on. He looked down and dairies for the ghost to speak.

"So rude of me! I'm sorry, we're in need of introductions and tea, oh yes tea, never forget the tea!" the woman said in a cherry way."I only kid! Ghost cannot eat," she said with a small laugh."As I was saying, I am Helga Hufflepuff! One of the four founders of Hogwarts!"

"Helg-Helga Huffle-Hufflepuff?" Newt said scared to death.

"Oh yes! Oh my, you poor thing, you're still scared aren't you?" Helga said as she swooped down next to Newt.

"Again, I'm sorry. Had you been in my position, you would have done the same," she said with a smile."I keep getting off topic, silly me. You are here for a reason, but the reason is not yet clear."

"How am I here for a reason? I was simply looking for an entrance to the Grand Hall," Newt said annoyed as he stood up.

"You wouldn't have appeared to me then honey," Helga said.

"While I am grateful to meet you, I must be going so if you could show me the way out or can I apprate out of here?" Newt said.

"No, no, no! You mustn't leave! We must discover the reason you are here tonight!"

"And where would here be, if I may ask," Newt said.

"Why of course Hufflepff Tower!" Helga said."Now, what do you seek?"

"I-I-I'm not sure. I do know I need to re-find the room of requirement but it has already appeared to me so it shouldn't be hard. Other then that, I am as lost as you," Newt said quietly.

"Dearie, it is not I who is lost. I already know why you are here, I am just a guide to help you discover your reason," Helga said as she swooped down to stand next to Newt."If you don't mind, may I know your name?"

"My name is Newt Scamander," he said.

"Newton! Oh yes, one of my favorite Hufflepuffs! Don't tell the other Hufflepuffs though, it will only make them jealous," she said as she swooped up in a flurry and then came back down."Newton-"

"Please don't call me Newton," Newt said, avoiding her gaze.

"Alright Newt," Helga said punctually,"Haven't you thought about 1926? And how far away from home you are? Don't you miss your friends and family?"

Newt hasn't thought about Tina, Queenie, and Jacob and even his family ever since he arrived in 1995. The look of shock on his face only mad Helga nod.

"Now you are realizing the emotions of leaving," she said.

"I-I-I never real-realized. I-I-I've been so-so-so bu-busy.." Newt stammered out with tears brimming his eyes.

"It's alright to cry Newt. Even I must do it every once in a while. It is braver to admit and face your feelings then face your greatest foe. Express yourself, it doesn't have to be aloud, I will know through your kindness and loyalty."

That last statement didn't make any sense to Newt but he ignored it for now.

"I miss 1926 so-so-so mu-much. I miss Lo-Lo-London and my-my-my family. No-no matter ho-how much we-we-we-," before Newt could finish, he broke out into a sob. Remembering all the familiarities of home, he missed his family. Newt wished he didn't fight with his father and brother as much as he did. It was evident they cared about him but Newt felt as though they never understood his work like his mother did. Newt vowed he would try to make them understand and show them his side of his story as well as reconcil as much as he can with them.

Helga just sat there on the cold ground next to Newt. She felt awkward she couldn't offer any physical means of comfort like a hug but she sent good feelings of happiness and laughter towards him. It didn't seem to help though.

"Anything else?" Helga said after Newt quieted down a little bit.

"Hogwarts reminds me so much of Leta and my time here," Newt said between sniffles "I have been experiencing actions and thoughts that remind me so much of her. I tried to keep her buried for so long to avoid my pain. I can't stand to look at her. Leta, oh Leta... She was so happy at times, as though she were the sun itself but others.." Newt said with a darkness over him now,"at other times, she could've become the most cruel person you have ever met... I saw it firsthand sometimes..."

Newt continued to sit on the cold ground sobbing sometimes and other times sniffling and trying to regain his breath.

Helga sat there silently, letting Newt face his emotions and guilt.

"If I could've avoided Leta, I would have in all honesty," Newt said looking down.

"She was a wonderful person to be around. All people have a great, joyous side to them. But then others, not all, have the dark side you experienced with Leta. Newt, you must learn that all people are not Leta. You cannot be afraid to enter into a friendship with people like Queenie, Tina and Jacob," Helga said while a shocked Newt was at a lost for words. Was she a ligilimens? Before he could ask though, Helga continued,"You were at first scared and reluctant to do anything with them... especially Tina... but you saw they aren't all like her."

Nwwt say there's silently. He wasn't playing with his fingers now and he still avoided Helga's stars. Newt was embarrassed to have admitted this to her as well as cry in front of his house founder. But he felt a familiar sense of home within her, as if it were trying to consume him in warmth and happiness.

"You're even finding happiness in Hermione, Harry and Ron," she said in a shocked way with a smile. She looked at Newt who was still sitting and avoiding her gaze. The poor thing could barely stand her presence, it's a miracle he hasn't passed out yet.

"Think about our meeting as much as you can. You still have a long emotional journey in discovering these feelings. My tower will always be open. Whenever you need a place of comfort, I will find you. Whenever you think you don't need a place a comfort, I will still find you and teach you again. Do not bury these feelings Neat, they will haunt you later. Learn, that is one of the most valuable lessons I can teach you. Be kind, loyal and courageous. This will be the bravest thing you face Newt," Helga said with a smile as she floated up and left.

Newt looked up and down the hallway to see it returned back to how it wasn't when he came down it. Shaken up by the experience, Newt thought it would be best to find Madam Pompfrey and have a checkup before going to bed.

He wandered back into the infirmary wing to see Madam Pompfrey next to the red-haired girl from earlier today. Madam Pompfrey gave her some glass to drink and once the student was done, the nurse took it and went over to Newt.

"Considering you are not in terrible shape, this is improvement," she said in an annoyed tone.

"Is something wrong?" Newt asked innocently.

"Yes, you are sweating a lot and the side of your robes are darker then usual," she said.

Newt hadn't even noticed. Had they been bleeding? Madam Pompfrey led him to the other side of the room away from the girl, who was not reading a book, where Newt removed all his undershirts to reveal his bare skin with the bandage from this morning still wrapped around him tightly.

"Ah, yes, you did bleed a good fair amount," Madam Pompfrey said as s

he unwrapped the bandage. Newt felt very awkward standing there half naked. He was very shy about his body considering he had many scars and bruises from working in his field with beasts. Madam Pompfrey took out a glass jar and placed a lotion-like ointment on his wounds. Once she was finished, it felt very cool at first. However, it soon started to heat up and it started burning his skin.

"Ughhh, what is that? It is burning my skin!" Newt exclaimed.

"Calm down, it will help to heal your wounds faster," she replied.

"Well it doesn't feel pleasant, I can assure you," Newt said.

Madam Pompfrey had a smug look on her face and she was going to respond when her gaze went to the girl.

"Oi! Mind your own business," Madam Pompfrey said.

Newt turned around and forgot the red-haired girl was still there. He quickly placed his arms around himself before Madam Pompfrey swatted them away and she began to wrap the badage around his abdomen. The red-haired student looked scared, very scared. She was reading her book in a fake manner, trying to avoid looking at Newt.

When Madam Pompfrey was done, Newt quickly put on a nightshirt that was laid out for him. He settled himself in bed and was overcome with sleepiness. The emotional distress Helga Hufflepuff put him through that night made him very tired. He would be having a word with Professor Dumbledore about that though.

Newt had almost forgotten! He forgot his questions for Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall! Newt made a promise to himself that he would find out more information tomorrow.

 **In the morning...**

When Newt woke up, he noticed that the red-haired girl was gone. He then noticed that Professor McGonagall was in a hospital bed a few beds down from him. Quickly jumping up, Newt rushed over to her bedside worried. Although he didn't know her long, Newt had an immediate fondness for her. She seemed like a genuine but stern person. No doubt she was a Gryffindor. Madam Pompfrey came in and saw Newt awake near Professor McGonagall's bedside.

"Finally you woke up. I was worried you wouldn't wake up Mr Scamander," she said.

"What happened to Professor McGonagall?" Newt asked.

"I'm not completely sure. All I know is that something went down near Gamekeeper Hagrid's cabin and she was hurt," Madam Pompfrey said.

Newt panicked at these words. He was deathly afraid his creatures were the subject of what happened near his cabin. Newt quickly changed into a waistcoat and high waisted pants and rushed out of the hospital while Madam Pompfrey looked on with confusion. Once he reached an entrance outside, Newt started to run and caught the attention of some students. He went out the wrong side of the castle and had to make a small detour. Nonetheless, Newt continued to run until he reached Hagrid's cabin. Panting, he continued to rush to the door and knocked. Being impatient about his creatures, Newt opened the door to find Professor Dumbledore, Hermione, Harry and Ron all inside.

"Mr Scamander, good-morning," Dumbledoren said.

"Where-Where-Where are my creatures?" Newt breathed out, tired from running all the way here. He put his hands on his knees and looked down for a few moments before correcting his posture.

"I see that you rushed here. I was explaining what happened to Hagrid to Hermione, Ron and Harry, they are all very close. It is best you hear this too as it is something I must discuss with you," Dumbledore said,"Take a seat or remain standing, but close the door he said." Newt saw next to the fireplace was his case and he felt easier about it.

Newt did as he was told and closed the door. He then walked over to the table and leaned on it with his elbow.

"As you know, Professor Umbridge has the power to fire some of the professors here while I am able to keep them on Hogwarts grounds. Unfortunately, Professor Umbridge and a group of Aurors had told Hagrid to leave in the middle of the night. Earlier yesterday, Professor Umbridge sacked Hagrid. Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape were there, trying to settle it. However, Hagrid resisted and because of that, I am in a tight position. I cannot allow him to stay on grounds like I did with Professor Trelawney. I'm terribly sorry."

There was grief and sadness hung in the atmosphere of the room.

"Professor Umbridge is completely biased. It's not fair..," Newt finally said.

"I'm afraid so but the Ministry continues to grow paranoid of myself," Dumbledore said."I will leave you three to talk while I discuss something with Mr Scamander," he said, placing a hand on Newt's back and leading him outside.

Outside on the wooden steps, Dumbledore spoke to Newt.

"Newt, I am terribly sorry to ask this of you right now but you are the perfect choice right now to fill Hagrid's position as Professor of the Care of Magical Creatures."

Newt was absolutely shocked and looked up at Professor Dumbledore speechless.

"You-you want me to teach... that class?"

"Yes Newt."

Newt thought for a moment and paused to think.

"Of course I will take the position, I have nothing else to do except wander the castle...," Newt said," and get scared by ghosts," he muttered.

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing! Yes, I will accept the position but you must answer a few questions for me," Newt said.

"And what would the subject matter be?" Dumbledore said cautiously.

"Transfiguration," Newt said embarrassed. He felt his face turn hot red and he looked down at his feet.

Dumbledore looked a little suspicious but he thought it would be better Newt got in trouble while he was headmaster

"Perhaps. Yes, yes I'll answer your Transfiguration questions. If you find a way home however, you can leave your post freely. The same if you do not want to teach any longer," Dumbledore said.

"Also, where am I to teach as well?" Newt asked curiously.

"There used to be a classroom inside the castle before Hagrid did all his lessons outside. The little area behind his cabin not too far into the forest is the preferred area," he said.

"My creatures, am I allowed to keep them?"

"Yes but I suggest that you do not allow any of your students but perhaps the three inside know of your case. Especially Professor Umbridge," Dumbledore said with caution.

"Thank you Professor Dumbledore," Newt said."Do you mind speaking with me today later on? I experience something... a little... erm... traumatic last night...," Newt said, looking down.

"Of course, come by my office anytime after five. My meetings will be over by then," Professor Dumbledore said with a smile. And with that, he left Newt to his thoughts.

Newt went back inside to find that the three students finished their conversation and were now stuck in the middle of an awkward silence. Newt knew this silence all too well.

"Hullo... erm... well... I don't know how to put this.. I know how much you loved Hagrid and all but... for now until he returns... I have erm... I well... um.. I've been asked by Dumbledore to take over his uh... teaching position for now...," Newt said awkwardly. He began to play with his fingers, nervous for their reaction.

"You. You will be teaching us?" Ron finally said in amazement.

"Erm yes if that's alright..." Newt replied.

"That's wonderful! While we may be upset about Hagrid, at least we don't have one of Professor Umbridge's Ministry picks. To have the expert on magical creatures as our professor is amazing," Hermione said excitedly.

All Newt could do was smile. He was so glad they were accepting of him as their professor.

"Now though, you did promise us to help with finding the Room of Requirement. We have an hour now. And for your birthday, we're getting you a watch," Hermione said with a smile and the whole group laughed softly.

"Well then, I believe a certain room is to be found," Newt said. He then motioned towards the door and he rushed outside with the three students behind him. They made t to the castle and Newt transitioned from a run into a medium paced walk. They wouldn't want Professor Umbridge giving them detention for running. Newt smiled at the ridiculous thought.

"By the way, I tried speaking with Professor McGonagall this morning, or at least I was going to, until I saw her in a hospital bed," Newt said.

"What? Is she okay? Do you know what happened?" Harry questioned Newt. The trio looked shocked to hear this news. Newt thought Dumbledore would have told them or told them before he interrupted what he was saying.

"Well I don't know the extent of her injuries but Madam Pompfrey said something went down at Hagrid's cabin and she was hurt," Newt said solemnly.

"Oh," was all that he heard come from Harry.

"Don't worry. I assume she will be back to teaching her lessons in no time," Newt said in an attempt to cheer the mood up.

"So where exactly are we going?" Ron said.

"To the original spot I found the Room of Requirement," Newt said.

"Speaking of that, what did the room appear to you as?" Hermione asked.

"Well, it's quite embarrassing but I will share. It was a barn like area I could keep and nurture magical creatures. I found it in my third year. I already caused too many incidents in the dorm at the time in my second and first year," Newt said."It was a nice place to disappear for a while." Newt was then reminded of his conversation with Helga last night. It still haunted him on how he poured his heart out to her. it was still embarrassing for him.

They turned corner after corner and climbed flights of stairs. They reached a point in the castle where it seemed very isolated. There were no students around, none. They finally turned a corner that led down to a hallway. Newt stopped in front of the opposite brick wall.

"It should be here..." Newt murmured.

"Um... is there a spell?" Ron asked.

"No, no... when it appeared to me, it just did so," Newt said."Perhaps I'm too old or I'm not a student. Maybe I no longer need it..."

"Questions for the library," Hermione said, looking up at Newt.

He looked down at her."What a dreadful place, I can't stand it," Newt said in retort.

Hermione looked as though she was going to pass out from his statement.

"The Newt Scamander, an author of a book, dislikes libraries? Who would ever think of such a thing!" Hermione exclaimed.

Newt and Harry chuckled at this idea while Ron was still confused by the principles of the Room of Requirement.

"While you are in class, I'll search for some answers. I am meeting with Professor Dumbledore about Transfoguration," Newt shuddered at this thought,"maybe he can answer a question or-"

"NO!" all three students yelled.

"He mustn't know about this. None of the teachers but you I suppose. Ask him discretely," Hermione said quickly.

"Very well," Newt said."You better get going to your classes. I can't tell how long it will take you to get back."

"Thank you again, for everything," Harry said with a smile.

"You're welcome. You see, it does not work on the first try," Newt said.

After Hermione, Ron and Harry went off to their classes, Newt began to wander the castle in curiosity about the Room of Requirement. It was a dreadfully boring time between the morning and five o'clock. All Newt did was wander the castle to try and distract his mind from his conversation with Helga Hufflepuff. He desperately needed to speak with Dumbledore about it, Newt was confused among other emotions. He didn't know how to clearly express how it felt.

Newt was really considering Hermione's idea for getting a wristwatch. He didn't know what time it would be and there wasn't a clock in sight. By the time Newt found a wall -clock, it was already 5:15 PM. Feeling bad for being late, he quickly rushed down the hallways of Hogwarts towards what he hoped what the direction of the Headmaster's office. Newt guessed it must have been another ten minutes before he found the corridor with the golden statue.

"PhoenixFreathers," Newt said breathlessly. Excitement was building up in him as well as nervousness. Had anyone ever spoken with Helga before? Was he just dreaming it? Questions continued to circle Newt's mind as he became anxious to speak with Professor Dumbledore. Once the statue fully revealed the stone stairs, Newt flew up them and composed himself before knocking on the old wooden door leading into the headmaster's office. Before Newt could knock, however, the door swung open. how did Professor Dumbledore know he was always outside his office?

"Come in," Professor Dumbledore said with his back facing Newt. He walked in slowly and the door automatically closed behind him. Newt looked back up from the door to find Professor Dumbledore sitting at his desk reading. Again Newt stood in the magnificent office awkwardly while the professor read without paying any attention.

"Ah yes, please sit down," Professor Dumbledore said invitingly as he placed his book down, marking a page as he did so.

Newt sat down in one of the nicely texture chairs. He didn't know what material it was made out of but he knew it felt nice. Placing his hand up against one of the arm rests and siting one the edge of his seat, Newt began to speak.

"Professor Dumbledore, before I tell you anything, please know that I am trusting you to not tell anyone this. It was quite emotional for me and honestly... I don't know how to feel...," Newt said in a huff. Dumbledore sat there looking at him intently. Newt took a deep breath before continuing.

"The other night I was trying to find my way back to the infirmary wing when something happened... I'm not sure completely, I don't know if it was a mind trick or-or-or...," Newt stammered out, on the verge of sobbing.

Bravely, Newt took a deep breath and continued telling his tale,"I found myself down a hallway with a circular opening, looking over many courtyards. But something strange happened. The room reflected itself and I was stuck in a one way hallway. It's crazy but the way I came From looked exactly like the direction I was going. It used to be a corridor going someplace else!

"I was confused at first but I became frightened by the appearing of a ghost. She called herself Helga Hufflepuff. I'm not sure if it was a trick or someone trying to deceive me but she appeared somehow. We had a... chat... about some of my... emotions... I apparently kept hidden, at least, that's what she said... I-I-I had never realized... that they were true...,l Newt choked out with a tears starting to fall on his cheeks, one by one. Newt sat there silently for a while, not knowing how Dumbledore was reacting. All he could do was stare at the floor.

"I have never heard of this while at my time at Hogwarts... But I do know that some ghosts, particularly the founders or those who have connections with the founders, have appeared," Dumbledore finally said. "Perhaps she was trying to help you learn about your emotions."

"What emotions! I have felt them all," Newt snapped. Realizing what he just said Newt quickly apologized. "I'm sorry professor, I-I-I didn't mean to offend you it's just I-" Neet rambled on before Professor Dumbledore interrupted. "No, it is quite alright. Please, can you tell me what you were experiencing? Emotion wise of course," Dumbledore said with his hand raised, clearly sympathetic.

"A few days ago, I was reminded of my time at Hogwarts so, so, so many times. I tried to push them away, for fear that I would think of... of... of... Leta...

"Helga read my thoughts or knew how I was feeling somehow. I never realized until our conversation, that I miss 1926 very much. I even miss my family, and my brother and father... I feel so homesick... I left everything behind and I skipped an entire portion of my life that I may never get back! I will never see Tina, Queenie, Jacob or anyone I knew!" Newt exclaimed. At this point, he was sobbing, just like he was when he sat next to Helga Hufflepuff. Newt stood up to catch his breath. Sensing Newt's distress, Dumbledore stood up and walked around his desk, stopping a few meters from Newt. It was at least 10 minutes before Newt calmed down. Dumbledore looked into his former student and helped him through his distress. Finally, the headmaster spoke.

"Newt... you made a mistake... Even I make them. While your life in 1926 may be gone for a while, I think Helga Hufflepuff was forcing you to face your emotions so that you can continue with your life. You cannot keep ignoring your emotions, otherwise you become emotionless. That is a dangerous thing. Our instincts come from our senses and emotions," Dumbledore said softly.

"How-How do I overcome them though..." Newt whispered.

"By embracing them. You can meet new people and have new friends, you can study creatures and live a life full of wonder, curiosity and excitement. You are in an alien world, very different from your own, and you have the privilege of exploring it. Accept the fact that you may not see 1926 another day but accept that you can create a new life here," Dumbledore said. "Thank you for coming to me Newt, I am grateful you explained it to me. I hope you know my office is always open," he said with a smile.

"Thank you for this.. this-this-this has actually really helped...," Newt said.

"Of course, anytime Newt. But you did mention you had Transfiguration questions earlier?" he said curiously.

"Ah yes...," Newt said and he began to ask random questions, all of which Lrofessor Dumbledore answered without question. Most of the time, Professor Dumbledore would go deeper and deeper and go even more specific the Next newt wanted. At these times, Newt stared off and tuned him out a little bit. He felt a little bad doing this but he didn't want to cause worry to Professor Dumbledore. He finally got to the area of Animagus.

"So, how does one become an Animagus, that is what confuses me the most," Newt said innocently.

"Well it is a long and complicated process. I may not be the best to explain it to you, perhaps Professor McGonagall but I can try. First off an Animagus is a witch or wizard who is able to transform their physical being into an animal. In order to become one, you must register with the Ministry first and that takes at least a month or more. Second, there is a spell and you must do things that can take quite a long time to do. If you want more information, just go to the restricted section. You are a Professor now, you're allowed to go in."

"Thank you for answering all my questions but I have one more for you that does not concern it," Newt said.

"What is your question?"

"The Room of Requirement. I visited it many times while here at Hogwarts. I want to find it again for a friend but I'm not sure how to go about doing it with them," he said.

"Well the Room of Requirement only appears to those who need it and it will transform into any room the person needs. Considering you no longer need it, I assume, it will probably not appear to you in the way you found it. However, you may yet find it again since it is familiar with you, and if the room accepts your friend's request, then perhaps it will appear to both of you, taking on the appearance your friend need," Professor Dumbledore said.

"Thank you again," Newt said.

"May I ask what you are doing with this information?" Dumbledore asked.

"Well... I need a place for erm... well I needed erm.. a place for my animals to actually roam free," Newt said. He blurted the last part out. Dumbledore seemed to accept this explanation, not wanting to know what he is actually doing.

Looking behind his desk, Dumbledore looked at a clock on a bookshelf.

"My, my, my! Look at the time, it is nearly dinner. We wouldn't want to miss your first supper as a Hogwarts professor, now would we," Dumbledore said with a smile.

"Pardon me?" Newt said shocked, looking up at him with red eyes.

"It is tradition that Hogwarts professors eat breakfast and dinner with the students in the Great Hall. I hope you haven't forgotten," he said.

"No! No, no I haven't forgotten, I was just surprised... After all I was just hired today," Newt said with a smile.

Dumbledore placed a hand on his back and led Newt towards the door. Together they went down the steps that led up to the office and headed towards the Great Hall. The pair remained silent the entire trip to the hall. Newt felt like there was nothing left to say after his embarrassing talk with Dumbledore. He knew that the professor understood, but it didn't make Newt feel better that he had now just poured his heart out to two people. Professor Dumbledore took Newt down another hallway, one that was separate from the main one going to the grand entrance.

"Um... wasn't that the corridor to the Great Hall?" Newt asked.

"No... that would be a way for the student to enter, we will be going through a backwater," Dumbledore replied. Soon after the professor's comment, they came to a small door that Dumbledore opened. It led into the same Great Hall Newt ate in while in Hogwarts. The ceiling still projected the familiar night sky. There were so many similarities to those when he sat in the same seats each night to enjoy his meal. Four long wooden tables with benches on either side represent the different houses, Newt noticed. He saw that the professors still ate on a smaller table in the front of the hall.

It was obvious they were late and even more obvious they were waiting for Dumbledore, not Newt. The students paid NOT attention to them as they were loudly chatting with one another. The professor led him over to the table and showed him an open seat between two figures. As Newt sat down, he noticed the one to his left was Professor McGonagall who was seated next to Professor Dumbledore. The one to his right, however, was the man that castes the stupefy spell the other night. He couldn't exactly remember his name... Was it Professor Snaper? Professor Snapped? Professor Snape? Newt continued to wonder as he sat there awkwardly, not knowing what to do.

The hall suddenly turned quiet as Dumbledore rose from his seat and walked around the table to the golden pedestal in front of the table.

"I have a few announcements to make. Firstly, I would like to remind all fifth-year students that O.W.L.S. are coming up I a few months and while they seem far away, I am hoping that you are studying intently. Secondly, fifth-years and above, our professors will be open to counseling on your future. They will be open throughout the week to hold meetings with them, I advise that you at least speak with one of them."

Newt panicked at this a little bit. He had no idea who these students were and he was definitely planning on speaking with Professor Dumbledore after about this.

"In addition to this, we have new additional professors. Our first new addition would be Professor Firenze, who is replacing Professor Trelawney as the Divination Professor. Our second addition would be Professor Scamander, who is replacing Professor hagrid as the Care for Magical Creatures Professor. I hope that you treat them with the upmost respect," Dumbledore concluded and returned to his seat. As he retreated back, the tables were automatically filled with plates upon plates of food and chatter erupted almost immediately. The staff table reacted in a similar way, chatter spreader out among the professors as the table was filled with platters of food.

"I hope you are enjoying your time at Hogwarts," a voice said to his left.

Newt looked over to see Professor McGonagall staring at him.

"Well-welll- yes um.. yes.. it's been erm pleasant," he said, looking at his feet.

"Don't worry, most of the professors don't bite and neither do the students. What house are you?" she said, attempting conversation.

"Hufflepuff," Newt said looking up.

"Interesting.. I am Gryffindor, and a proud one too."

"As am I. I mean-I mean a proud Hufflepuff, not a Gryffindor of course considering I don't eve-" Newt rambled on. All Professor McGonagall could do was laugh.

"A true Hufflepuff indeed," she said with a smile. Newt's lips curled into a Smile and gave out a small laugh. Together, along with the other professors, began to fill their plates with food.

 **A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter as always! I thought back to the Deathly Hallows scene with Rowena Raveclaw's daughter? I thin it was and I thought about Helga Hufflepuff being all cherry and happy and cute talk to Newt. I wanted to address the issue of leaving your whole family and friends behind. I didn't have a lot of material to go on since I'm mostly Newt cared about his animals more then his friends and family. Plus I felt like the relationship between Tina and Queenie hasn't reached the point that Jacob and Newt are in FBAWTFT. Anyway, they all go looking for the room of requirement and I must warn you, they won't find it for a few more chapters. I'd say it would take a months time for them to find it due to their schedules. Kinda convenient when Newt's Animagus will take a month ;) (Wink wink).**

 **As always, please leave a review and have a great day!**

 **-Athena, Slytherin💚.**

 **UPDATE:**

 **Ok so I felt like personally as a writer, the next chapter would have felt awkward since it would have flowed fine without a pause in between. The next chapter will be from Hermione's POV. I'm trying to write more from her perspective but I'm so addicted to writing from Newt's perspective that it's a little unhealthy XD. Anyway, I hope you are enjoying these longer chapters! I am trying to make them extra long but sometimes they just don't work out that way. Anyway, please review and have a great day!**

 **-Athena, Slytherin💚.**


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six: Quidditch Qualities**

Hermione sat in the familiar Great Hall with Ron, Harry and the other Gryffindors. They were all talking, waiting for Professor Dumbledore to arrive. He had news regarding different things and everyone in the hall was waiting for him. Hermione had never heard of Professor Dumbledore being late for anything, all she heard was that he was very punctual. Sitting here in the hall was contradicting that statement. She assumed the news would be Newt replacing Hagrid and whoever the new Divination teacher would be. There was already talk among the students about Newt ever since he appeared at Hagrid's lesson. Now, it was a sure fact that there would be plenty of gossip around the school tomorrow and, as an admirer of Newt, she was worried what they would think.

"Why'd you suppose Dumbledore is late?" Hermione heard Dean asked.

"I dunno, he's never been late for anything, and I mean anything. Perhaps a werewolf got him... ooooh," Seamus responded, moving his fingers up and down to create a sarcastic spooky affect. That last comment hurt a little bit considering their third year professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts, Proffesor Lupin, a man Hermione came to admire despite her first thoughts about werewolves.

As the Gryffindor table continued to be consumed in conspiracy theories, Hernione saw from the corner of her eye, the door in the left hand corner, behind the staff table, opened to reveal Professor Dumbledore and Newt. She was glad he was here and was excited for him personally. While Hagrid's misfortune was sorrowing, she couldn't be happier that her new Professor was none other then the _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Then_ author. Imagine all the information he has! While Harris was great and gave a lot information in his classes, Newt was over qualified and knew more then him.

The table grew less loud as they noticed Professor Dumbledore seat Newt. Newt must have caught Dumbledore up in his many Transfiguration questions. She almost forgot about the Room of Requirement, she hoped he had asked the headmaster discretely... Above all, Hermione hoped Newt even remembered the topic!

The hall continued to be loud but it became quiet as soon as Professor Dumbledore made his way towards the pedestal.

"I have a few announcements to make. Firstly, I would like to remind all fifth-year students that O.W.L.S. are coming up I a few months and while they seem far away, I am hoping that you are studying intently. Secondly, fifth-years and above, our professors will be open to counseling on your future. They will be open throughout the week to hold meetings with them, I advise that you at least speak with one of them," Dumbledore began in a loud voice.

"In addition to this, we have new additional professors. Our first new addition would be Professor Firenze, who is replacing Professor Trelawney as the Divination Professor. Our second addition would be Professor Scamander, who is replacing Professor hagrid as the Care for Magical Creatures Professor. I hope that you treat them with the upmost respect," Dumbledore concluded and returned to his seat.

Immediately after he concluded his speech, the platters of food arrived at all the tables. There were various foods all around but everyone seemed more interested in Newt's announcement as professor.

"Can ya believe it? It is true! Newt Scamander is actually here! But... how does he... look so erm... young?" Neville said.

"That is interesting. Shouldn't he be... I dunno... a hundred?" Dean replied.

They began their conspiracy theories once again and Hermione looked up across the table to find Ron and Harry silent, knowing that as much as they want to tell them about their experience with the author, they cannot.

Hermione looked up at the staff table to see Newt and Professor McGonagall in a conversation. He looked happy talking to the Transfiguration professor. Hermione could have sworn she saw Professor McGonagall laugh.

Ginny then came over with her wrist wrapped in a bandage. She sat on the free space next to Hermione and looked over to Harry, then she met Hermione's eyes.

"You are about to ask, I know, and I got this from Quidditch tryouts. I was in the infirmary all day, and on the bright side I missed classes," she said with a smile. "Umm, that's not why I'm here though... have you guys you know.. found a place?" She said in a quiet voice.

"We're still looking. We should find one soon, however. And I had no idea Ginny. Professor McGonagall didn't even tell me! Does mom and dad know?" Ron asked surprised.

"Yeah right," his sister replied with an eye roll,"and no, I haven't."

"You should tell them," he replied.

"Alright, alright, I'll owl them once I get back to the common room. Anyway, there's been a lot of talk in my class, any ideas to why Hagrid left? That was quite surprising, I liked him a lot. He had a ton of interesting lessons," Ginny said happily.

Overhearing their conversation, Dean said," Yeah but Hagrid didn't really know too much about these animals. I mean he was great and all, but all he really had was a good relationship with the animals," Dean said. Harry and Ron practically looked like they were going to kill him. Before any fighting could interrupt, Hermione spoke.

"Hagrid was a great teacher, they're are not all perfect. Everyone has their own opinion but we all must agree that he was an amazing professor who did an equally great job," she said proudly. Dean shrunk bad a little bit, feeling guilty for what he said.

"Yeah.. he'll be missed... but... I can't absolutely wait to learn from New-Professor Scamander," she said, looking up admiringly. Ron looked as though he was going to throw up and Hermione giggled, knowing how she felt.

"Does someone have a crush?" Seamus pitched in.

"Hey! I do not! He does look adorable though..." Ginny said defensively. Seamus and Dean laughed while Ron was making puking noises. Hermione giggled and Harry looked on with a little jealously.

"So did you make the team?" Ron asked.

"I'm not sure, I won't know till next week. It's weird how half the season is played and then the next half could be played by a whole new team," Ginny said.

For the rest of the evening, the group talked about many things like how the negative news about Professor Dumbledore and Harry practically disappeared. The news now was filled with information on Newt. There was some negative and some positive, it was all mostly in between. Some welcomed his arrival while others were criticizing his use of the time-turner and the Ministry's response but those articles were suppressed, probably on the Minister's orders

When Hermione got back to the Gruffindor common room, she found groups of people all gossiping. Usually they all went to bed, but not today. It was Friday after all and tomorrow was a Qudditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Hermione walked over to where Ron and Harry were sitting, their usual spot in front of the fireplace. She sat next to Harry athe the end to the left on the red velvet couch.

"They're mad, those girls. All they can talk about now is Newt and just Newt," Ron said. Hermione turned around to see a red-haired girl, she assumed this was Ginny, with at least five other girls giggling. Ron looked away bewildered and confused.

"We still need to find the Room of Requirement. We search tomorrow after Quidditch," Harry said.

"That's assuming you don't get hurt," Hermione said.

"I'll be extra careful," Harry said sarcastically. Hermione smiled.

For the rest of the evening, they sat there doing some homework. Ron was the first to go up, and then Hermione. Harry sat at the fireplace even after they left.

 **In the morning...**

Hermione was the first to wake up. She quickly went down to the common room and waited until Harry and Ron woke up. To keep herself busy, she read a book, one of her favorite hobbies. The book she was reading was about the Hogwarts castle and the magical plans used to create it. She was trying to find any clues or hints as to where the location of the Room of Requirement could be, but nothing came up. Before she could finish a chapter, Ginny came down from the girls' dormitory.

"Good-morning Ginny," Hermione said.

"Good-morning, who are you waiting for? If it's Ron and Harry, they still haven't woken, at least, I don't think so. Why don't you come down to the Great Hall with me? We can wait for them there," she said invitingly.

"That would be nice," Hermione said with a smile and together, the two girls went down to the hall. At the staff table were some of the professors eating. Hermione didn't see Newt which made her a little disappointed. Hermione and Ginny sat together with a few other Gryffindor girls she had no clue about. She didn't even know their names. Hermione sat there quietly with Ginny while she and the other girls talked. Finally, Harry and Ron walked in, saving Hermione from her awkward situation. She slid her breakfast over to where they sat. Harry was of course dressed in his Quidditch robes and Ron was in his Hogwarts robes like Hermione.

"You woke up late, very late, even for you," Hermione stated, directing it towards Harry. "Did you stay up too late last night?"

"Yeah, I was just checking Sirius didn't contact us. I wouldn't want the Gryffindors to see that..," Harry said.

"And what is your excuse?" Hermione asked Ron.

"I'm just a late sleeper okay," Ron said defensively.

"Do you think Newt will show up to the Quidditch match?" Harry questioned.

"Well, I don't know. Maybe. I didn't see him at the staff table when we came in, he still hasn't been here. Maybe he is an early riser or a late sleeper, like some people," Hermione said, looking towards Ron's direction. He flew his hands up in sign of surrender. The trio finished their breakfast and headed out towards the Quidditch field. There were tons of other students as well, all from different houses. Usually all the houses came to watch each game as it was a great pass-time at Hogwarts. At the field entrance for the competitors, Ron and Hermione parted ways with Harry as he went inside the little entrance. They headed up the stairs and stood in the Gryffindor section towards the rail, like they always do.

The players walked out onto the field and flew up to their positions with their brooms. Madam Hooch came out to the field and released the bludgers. She then took out the snitch and it flew off quickly. Finally, Madam Hooch brought out the Quaffle and threw it into the air, the game has begun.

At first, Slytherin got the Quaffle and began to make progress towards the three hoops. Hermione saw in the corner of her eye was Harry who was looking around, clueless about the game. He was obviously looking for the snitch. The bludgers came at many of the players but each team's Beaters were making sure no one got hit by the nasty bludger.

Slytherin attempted to score the Quaffle but the Keeper prevented that from happening. Hermione didn't know the girl's name but she knew the student replaced Oliver Wood, the old Gryffindor Keeper. The Gryffindor team got the Quadfle and started to push back on the Slytherin team.

All of sudden, a woosh noise happened and a man appeared next to her. Hermione was clearly frightened as she almost fell on top on Ron before she realized it was Newt.

"Good-morning. It's a lovely day for Quidditch, isn't it?" he said towards the two while looking away from them.

"You nearly scared me to death!" Ron complained.

"Ignore him. You do know apparating has certain laws and you can't really do what you just did..." Hermione said carefully. "Also, I had no idea you could apostate!" she said excitedly and admiringly.

"What? That's.. that's news to me... We used to do it all the time before the Floo Network even existed... Quite odd," Newt said.

As their conversation continued, Gryffindor scored 10 points but a

* * *

Slytherin Beater injured one of the Chasers. Hermione could still see Harry flying around leisurely, still trying to find the Snitch.

"Where is your friend Harry?" Newt asked. Ron pointed up and Newt saw him on the broom.

"Ah, he is a seeker?" he asked for them to clarify and Hermione nodded.

"Did you ever play Quidditch?" Ron asked.

"Um, yes I did for a few years. I was a Chaser for Hufflepuff."

"Not to sound rude or anything, but if Hufflepuff is your house, why aren't you with them or where the staff sit?" Ron asked.

"Ronald!" Hermione whispered and slapped his arm. All Newt did was smile though as he looked over to where they were.

"This is much more interesting then where the staff sit. Dreadfully boring, especially with Umbridge there," he said, whispering the last part, "Besides, this is a Gryffindor game and I thought I would support you guys."

Hermione smiled. She wasn't paying attention to the game, she was so caught up in what's Newt had to say, he was so much more interesting then this game. When Hermione checked the score, however, it was 10 - 20 points. Slytherin was up ahead by 10 points. Ron noticed this too and had a sour look on his face.

As the game continued the score went up and up. 20 - 20, 30 - 20, 40 - 20 and finally 40 - 50. IT was becoming a very long game when Harry suddenly flew past the stands in immense speed.

"Looks like Harry had finally spotted the snitch," Newt remarked.

He did, and Harry was chasing after it with determination. The other Seeker, Draco Malfoy, noticed this and chased after Harry. They were shoulder by shoulder, bumping into each other to gain an advantage but neither one were. The two Seekers continued to chase after a golden flurry, speeding around in all directions. Up, down, left, left, right and so on they went. By this time, Slytherin was up 50 - 70.

Everything ended abruptly when Harry and Malfoy both fell on the ground, Harry landing 20 feet away from Malfoy. A large "oooo" went out in the stands. Draco looked like a drama queen, rolling all over the place while Harry simply stood up, grabbed his room and held out the Snitch. The game was over and Gryffindor won!

Newt clapped for Harry along with the rest of the stadium but the Slytherin house, of course. Hermione, Ron and even Newt waited outside to congratulate him. Hermione and Ron hugged him and said their congratulations.

"Congrats Harry, that was a well-played game," Newt said with a smile.

"Thank you professor," Harry replied.

"Oh, please don't call me professor, it makes me sound.. erm.. old. Please just call me Newt, I feel way more comfortable with it. However, Dumblddore will probably have a hissy fit so I'm just going to allow you three to say it," Newt said with a smile. The new Care for Magical Creatures professor escorted the trio back to the school grounds. They asked Newt various questions and were joking around with him. He was such a wonderful and kind person to be around. How could anyone dislike him? They reached the courtyard when Newt spoke to them quietly.

"Clean yourself up, Harry. Then meet me at Hagrid's cabin. We will then go search fo-" he was interrupted by a loud, high-pitched noise.

"POTTER! GRANGER! WEASLEY!"

It was Umbridge.

"WHERE WERE YOU THREE DURING MY CLASS THE OTHER DAY? AND WHY WERENT YOU IN YOUR COMMON ROOM AFTER CURFEW? WELL?" she yelled.

"Professor, they were with me. I was speaking with Professor Hagrid along with the three and I invited them to help me with...," Newt caught himself, "with Hagrid's creatures since he needed to go speak with someone. He wasn't specific."

"That still gives no excuse to be out after hours," Umbridge said furiously. Before Newt could make another excuse, "DETENTION FOR TWO WEEKS, EVERY NIGHT AND POTTER, YOU'RE BANNED FROM QUIDDITCH!" she shrieks. Many students looked over surprised. They continued to walk, staring at the four of them.

Harry looked very angry and sad at the same time. Newt looked a little paler then usual.

"Why were you out after dark?" Newt asked angrily after Umbridge had walked away.

"We were trying to find the Room of Requirement!" Ron said in defense of the three.

"We could have done that in the daylight," Newt said. Even when the author was angry, he still looked sympathetic and kind.

"It's alright, I can ask Professor Dumbledore to take you for detention and we can use that time for searching. Perfect excuse. Something good can come out of the bad. However, Harry.. I am truly sorry about your position on the Quidditch Team... That was clearly not right," Newt said calmly.

"It's alright," Harry said through gritted teeth. "I'm going to go clean up. I'll see you later Ron and Hermione," He left before anyone could say anything. Hermione felt sorrowful for him. It was completely biased and unfair! She looked up at Newt, he seemed the same way.

* * *

Later that night, Ron and Hermione waited in the Gryffindor common room so that they can report to Umbridge for detention. They have not seen Harry after the ordeal with the High Inquisitor. In fact, no one has really seen him. They waited for what seemed hours, people began to retreat back into the dormitories for the night. Once Harry came into the common room, there were only a few people about. As she turned around and saw him, she ran over to Harry and hugged him tightly for a long time.

"Where were you?" Hermioje said loudly as she pulled away.

"I needed some me time," he replied, clearly not in the mood for conversation.

"Well either way, we need to go, we'll be late and Umbridge is already furious with us," Ron said.

Hermione then led the two boys out of the common room, taking charge. They passed corridor after corridor in the darkness and in silence as they made their way to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. When they turned the corner, the old wooden door that led into the classroom was open. Hermione could hear an argument from inside between multiple voices.

When they made it towards the door, the three were confused on whether or not they waited or walked in. Harry stepped in front of Hermione and Ron and knocked on the door quietly. He stepped into the doorframe, followed by Hermione as they walked in steadily.

Off to the side was Newt who looked very annoyed while Umbridge argued with Professor McGonagall.

"That is a completely barbaric punishment!" Professor McGonagall yelled. "While I agree some punishment should be in order, I will not have my house students be left alone in the Dark Forest for an entire night!"

"Professor McGonagall, we have guests," Umbridge replied calmly as she turned her head towards the door.

Newt looked up towards the trio. Professor McGonagall turned and walked towards them in a calm but stern manner.

"You three, always. Your punishment will be decided by Professor Umbridge and I do hope you think twice about skipping our classes again," she said as she walked out the door. Newt still stood next to the wall quietly, observing the recent events.

"Well then!" Umbridge said in a cheerful voice. "Professor Scamander and Professor McGonagall have tried to change my mind on the punishment and perhaps it is too barbaric.." she said deviously. Obviously the new one would be even worse and more benefiting to Umbridge.

"Weasley, you will be spending the next two weeks with Mr Flinch. You will do as he says and will not ask questions. Follow any rules he gives you," Umbridge said as she stood up and walked around her desk. "Granger, I was going to have you go with Professor Snape, however, Professor Scamander insisted that you three serve it with him. While I do not agree, I will give him the privilege of experience in serving a detention to a student. You will be going with him to deal with a erm..."

"Niffler," Newt said, correcting Umbridge.

"Niffler," she repeated. "And you Potter, you'll be staying here with me," she said with a fake smile. Harry seemed unmoved while Ron looked terrified. Hermione didn't know the look on her face, but she was relieved that she was able to serve her detention under Newt.

"Now go, and Weasley, I will know if you don't go to Mr Flinch," Umbridge said.

Ron and Hermione walked back into the hallway and Newt quickly followed while Umbridge closed the door with Harry still in the classroom.

"How am I even suppose to know where he is?" Ron said confused.

"Oh, don't worry, I think he'll find you," Newt said with a smile as he took Hermione by the arm and led her the opposite way from Ron. She had to cover her mouth to hide the smile. Before they turned the corner, Hermione saw Ron walking slowly down the opposite corridor. Once they distanced themselves from the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Newt turned and looked behind him to make sure no one was there. After a moment of silence, Newt finally spoke.

"Sorry I was listening for any sounds," he said apologetically.

"We aren't going to take care of the Niffler, are we?" Hermione said.

"Of course not! We're going to go look for the Room of Requirement. I hope you don't mind, unless you actually want to take care of the Niff-"

"No, we desperately need to find the Room of Requirement," she interrupted.

"Oh okay," Newt said softly.

For the next few hours, the two of them went corridor after corridor and they even went back to the original place the room was but there was no success. Hermione began to feel tired from the day she had, it didn't help that she was up at an un-godly hour, looking for a room. Hermione noticed that Newt seemed tired as well. While she didn't know what he did on his free time, it must be very tiring, Hermione thought. They kept searching for it throughout the castle until Newt turned to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"You should go back to bed. You look awful. I-I-I mean not in-in that way! I mean liek you just... ugh... you just look... tired, that's all," Newt rambled on. He quickly looked away in embarrassment. Hermione let out a small chuckle at how adorable that was.

"No, no it's ok. I do feel tired though. Thank you, again, for trying to help," Hermione said. Newt still looked away but she saw a smile on his face. She turned around and walked down the hallway towards the Gryffindor common room.

* * *

The next day, Hermione slept the entire day. She was so tired from running around the previous night and it was taking a toll on her mentally and physically. She mostly spent the day sleeping until she went down to the Great Hall to eat breakfast. When she arrived, Ron looked half asleep while Harry seemed wide awake, how peculiar, she thought.

"Good-morning," Hermione said in a half yawn.

"Who is the late sleeper now?" Ron quipped in.

"Unlike you two, I was looking for the Room of Requirement all last night. I practically searched the school, twice, in fact. I have a right to be tired, you know," she replied.

"At least you didn't have to clean the trophy room, three times, in fact," Ron said in a mimicking voice.

"Would you guys stop, you're giving me a headache. I had to spend the entire night with Umbridge so I think I rightfully win," Harry said. Before the two of them could argue even more, Harry spoke again. "So, did you find it or any clue on where it could be?"

"No, no we didn't find it. Newt said it could take a long time before there is any sort of sign. But he did say it took him two weeks so we should have hope."

"We need to find it, soon," Harry replied.

"Don't worry, I plan on spending Christmas here so that I can look more. You two should go back and see Mr Weasley. Especially you, Ron. He needs to see you both after what happened," Hermione said.

"Yes, well Ron was planning on going, I wanted to stay here. And I think I am," Harry said.

"I can't change your mind, can I?" Hermione asked hopefully.

"No, sorry," Harry shrugged.

"Alright then, I guess you can join Newt and I then," Hermione said.

For the rest of her time there, they spoke about random things. After she was done, Hermione left the two boys and returned to the Gryffindor Girls' dormitories to go back to bed.

She slept through the entire day until Lavender came in and woke her up.

"Um Harry and Ron told me to come in and get you," she said.

"Oh..Oh thank you..," Hermione said with a yawn.

She got out of bed and walked out into the common room. Hermione completely forgot that she had detention, again, tonight.

"You must've been really tired," Ron said.

All Hermione did was groan as she led the two of them to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom for their second night of detention.

Throughout the night, there wasn't anything interesting. Newt and Hermione searched the school again, this time with more detail. The professor had allowed Hermione to go back to bed early since he noticed she was incredibly tired. It was only two hours into searching, but she was grateful for being allowed to go back to bed.

* * *

In the morning, Hermione felt better after sleeping for over a day. She never realized how much rest she needed until she woke up in the morning. Hermione again went down to the Great Hall and found Ron asleep on the table with Harry opposite of him, eating his breakfast silently. Next to Harry was Neville, who was talking to him but Harry seemed to not pay attention. Hermione sat down next to Ron and leaned her head against the table to get a better look at him. She then patted his arm to wake up.

"Ron... wake up.. please," she said in a pleading voice.

"Ugh... five... more... minutes..," was all that Hermione heard. She looked at Harry, who seemed a little worried.

"Ron, wake up. We have to go to class soon," he said. Neville turned his head and his attention was now on Ron.

"Poor Ron, what was he doing? He seems so tired," Neville said, stating the obvious.

"We have detention," Harry said, rolling his eyes.

"Let me guess, Umbridge?" Neville replied.

Harry nodded his head in response.

"What'd you do this time?"

"None of your business," Harry snapped. Neville obviously looked a little hurt and Ron started to stir from his short nap. Hermione felt bad for the both of them. There was a long akward silence before she spoke up.

"Neville, excuse Harry, we missed class by accident. We were helping someone."

"Oh, yeah, that's right, I remember that Umbridge was furious in class that you three weren't there," he said. "We ought to get to our first class, it's getting late."

"Yes, we should," she said in response.

Hermione helped Ron finally wake up, but he still looked awfully drained and tired. She just hoped that he would make it through the day without passing out. As they made their way out, many other students were leaving as well. The trio, along with Neville, passed some of the Ravenclaws where Harry saw Cho and ran off to her quickly. Hermione didn't even bother to tell him that they would be late as he swiftly came back a few minutes after he ran off. The fifth year Gryffindor's first class was Care for Magical Creatures and unfortunately, they have a combined class with the Slytherins.

"Where are we going? Class is outside," Ron said in a dazed voice.

"No, Newt thought it would be too cold out and preferred we stayed inside and learn about... well.. I don't know," Hermione said.

"Don't you meet Professors Scamander?" Neville said suspiciously.

"Oh, yes! Yes, yes of course," she replied in a hurry.

The foursome went down the different hallways of the Hogwarts castle, heading towards the classroom set aside for Newt's class. When they reached the door, many students, both Gryffindor and Slytherin, were still walking inside. Hermione sighed in relief that they weren't late, she was hoping to be there early for Newt's first time teaching the class. Inside of the room, there were different rows of desks, two at each one. The room looked just like all of the other classrooms, stone walls, ceiling, and floor. The ceiling was high up, with gorgeous and grand pillars holding it up. There was a small space between the pillars where the rows of desks were located. It was familiar in ways to the Charms classroom, with the vaulted ceiling, but this room felt different in many ways. Perhaps it was because of Hermione's new friendship with Newt or if it was something else.

Hermione sat down at at desk with Ron beside her while Harry and Neville took their seats next to the two. The Slytherins across the room were talking and Hermione could spot Draco Malfoy sitting with the bunch of them, talking about who knows what. Her eyes then immediately darted to the doorway where she saw a pink fluffiness from the corner of her eye. Of course, it was Umbridge. For some reason, she was out for anyone teaching the Care for Magical Creatures class, which was quite odd.

"Bloody hell... What is she doing here?" Ron said sheepishly.

Ron looked as though he was going to be sick either due to the new presence of Umbridge or not getting enough sleep. Hermione certainly hoped it was the latter of the two choices.

Umbridge quietly walked around the perimeter of the room, avoiding the attention of the students. She then stood in the corner near the door on the Slytherin side of the room. A few moments later, Newt came inside the classroom and with a flick of his wand, he closed the large wooden doors that led into the classroom. He seemed in a joyful and playful mood as he walked in. Hermione thought his choice of clothing was odd, most professors in the school wore traditional robes but Newt continued to wear a waistcoat and trousers. It seems as though he missed the 1920s to Hermione.

He continued to walked in a swift fashion, stopping at the end of the walkway, where a desk was, between the two pillars. He went around his desk and Hermione just noticed that his case was ontop of it.

The students quietly all took their seats, staring in curiosity of what the new professor would do.

Newt then opened the leather case and brought out a stick- no it wasn't a stick, it was a green slim figure that was no taller then 8 inches. Its skin was like green, a color similar to the stem of a plant. Newt held his hand out and cautiously walked around the desk and stopped in front of it. There was silence before he spoke.

"This, is a Bowtruckle," he said in a quiet voice. The small creature turned around slowly and gave a small, shy wave.

"They are native to English, German and Scandinavian forests. Bowtruckles have a... erm... home tree, I suppose you can call it. They become guardians of that particular tree and protect it."

Newt was obviously not as joyful as he used to be, Hermione thought it was because he noticed the lurking presence of Umbridge in the corner of the room. There was a small pause before he began again.

"Taking what I just told you... Can anyone guess as to what their... um... demeanor is like?"

Hermione was completely mesmerized by the small creature, so much in fact that she missed the question for a few moments before raising her hand.

"Ah, um... yes... Hermione?"

"Well, Bowtruckles are mainly peaceful and quite shy, all they want to do is protect the tree they guard but... They become rather harsh if it is threatened in any way, she said.

"Yes, yes that's right. Any interference from humans, and they will attack. Their hands... or rather.. err.. twigs... turn into sharp claws. Considering the amount of Bowtruckles on a single tree, they can be... dangerous in groups," Newt said carefully with a smile.

"Oh yes, by the way, this is Pickett," Newt said.

Hermione and a few others gave a small wave to the creature. Some of the Slytherins were interested in what Newt had to say, while others, like Malfoy, were not paying attention and had a disgusting look on their faces.

Umbridge then made her presence known, by speaking in a commanding and loud voice.

"Professor Scamander, how did you get a Bowtruckle if they attack with any human interference?" she said. Newt looked dazed at the question for a minute, he wasn't looking at her, his attention was on the Bowtruckle. His head dipped down for a moment before he spoke.

"The tree where I found Pickett was in danger and I rescued him and the other Bowtruckles he was with. I now take care of them until I can release them properly.

"Today, however, is focused on how to care for Bowtruckles. These creatures are often... used... as a way to pick locks...," Newt said in a slow manner.

Umbridge looked defeated, she backed down from Newt and continued to observe the class, something Hermione saw no professor do.

For the rest of their time there, Newt showed the various students the Bowtruckle. He taught them how to care for their needs and how to deal with the different colds they can catch. Hermione wanted one of her own but she remembered how Newt scolded a Slytherin for thinking of such a thing. Newt obviously seemed to take that personally in a way, which was quite adorable.

When the class ended, Newt went back to his case and seemed to be speaking to the Bowtruckle, which was odd. Ron was asleep next to Hermione and she goaded him to wake up like she did before in the Great Hall. Neville immediately left and ran over to Seamus and Dean, who were walking out the door. Malfoy, Umbridge and the other Slytherins left in a hurry but some of them looked quite content in what Newt taught. Hermione finally got Ron to wake up but Harry left in a rush again. She was worried about him, he seemed to be acting emotionless and reckless at times, as well as deeply saddened. Together, Ron and Hermione walked out and followed him in a quick pace, heading towards their next class.

 **A/N: Hello! I hoped you enjoyed the chapter as always! I am most likely going to add on to it so watch out for that.**

 **When I made Newt a chaser for Hufflepuff's Quidditch team, it's because in FBAWTFT (SPOILERS) (SPOILERS) (SPOILERS) Newt is asked by Mary Lou Barebone if he was a Seeker but he replied with saying he was a Chaser and someone came up with the idea that Newt possibly meant that he was an actual Chaser for Quidditch.**

 **I made Harry being banned from Quidditch different. I'm going based off the book btw and not by the movies. I don't believe that Harry is banned from Quidditch in the movies.**

 **As always, please review!**

 **-Athena, Slytherin💚.**

 **UPDATE:**

 **To answer some of your questions, I do not have a specific pairing in mind yet. I may have an idea of what I might do. Also, Newt originally wanted to go into the past to prevent Credence from dying but he ended up accidentally going into the future. He has no real purpose of being in the future, no motive, except now his motive is to figure out a way back to 1926, which will be addressed soon.**

 **Also, Newt being in the future does effect the storylines and events of everything after the Order of the Phoenix. Everything he does and everyone he intereacts with can change outcomes in the story. Had Newt not been in this story, then the Order of the Phoenix timeline would have been the same as the book. It's a little confusing but I hope you get the idea of it.**

 **The next few chapters will have some time skips but I will describe a summary of what happened in the time skips. I don't want to give too much away because as of right now, I'm halfway through finishing the next chapter.**

 **-Athena, Slytherin💚.**

 **UPDATE NUMERO DOS:**

 **Ok I am so sorry for not updating, the Christmas season you know. I have also been very lazy and forgetful, to which I apologize. However, I'll try to get the next chapter out either tonight or tomorrow and I will not be posting over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but I will write on my own during those days and post them the following week.**

 **I am going to try and make my writing consistent in the next few chapters, some of the events that happen in other chapters are not heavily mentioned or addressed later on but that is because I have been lazy again in rushing to get to some of the juicy writing parts.**

 **As always, hoped you enjoyed the chapter and please leave a review!**

 **-Athena, Slytherin💚.**


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven: The Room of Requirement**

Newt was at Hogwarts for almost a month now. He counted the weeks by what events happened. Week one was when he woke up and was becoming accustomed to Hogwarts, it was also the week he met Hermione, Harry and Ron and started his teaching position at Hogwarts. Week two was nothing more then a full weeks break for Christmas, nothing eventful happened except that's Hermione and Newt continued to search for the Room of Requirement. Week three was another set of days full of teaching and it was the week Newt began to fulfill his quest of becoming an Animagus. It was going to be a dreadfully long time, another month at most before he can begin the transformation, and even worse, Newt must have a Mandrake leaf in his mouth for the entire month. Luckily, it was easy to get, all he had to do was ask Professor Sprout for a Mandrake leaf, for his "Magical creature studies" of course. And finally, week four was known as a week of hope for it was when Newt and Hermione finally found the Room of Requirement.

Newt woke up on Friday morning to a shadow cast over his room. It was a gloomy morning, severely cloudy, but it was not due to any snow falling, it was just gray and it seemed to spread the same shadow across Hogwarts castle. He woke up and began his routine he had been doing for the entire month - get dressed, prepare for classes, check and feed creatures inside the case, eat breakfast and finally, teach classes.

Tonight was the last night of detention for Hermione, Harry and Ron and Newt was grateful, in a way of sorts. Hermione and Newt used her time in detention towards searching for the Room of Requiremnt, but the long nights she stayed up were starting to take effect on her. She was tired and sometimes didn't pay attention to him during class and Ron was another case, he simply could not keep his eyes open and instelad chose to sleep, which Newt didn't really mind because he understood how he felt. At one point, Newt was a Hogwarts student too, you know.

Newt could see Hermione loosing hope in finding the room. He was too in some ways. He didn't want to break his promise to the three students, they needed this room for a good reason. Umbridge was in no way teaching them how to defend themselves and it was not going to help them. He didn't know the current news about 1995, as he avoided newspapers to not know of the future, but in 1926, it could be dangerous in some parts and it helped to know basic spells. It also didn't help that Umbridge continued to act like a tyrant with her power.

Newt met up with Hermione at her last detention session. She was waiting outside of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom with Ron, the wooden door leading inside was closed, Harry must've been in there with Umbridge already starting his detention.

"Ms Granger," Newt said,"Follow me."

Hermione followed Newt in a fast pace as he made his way down the corridor. There were many torches lined along the hallways, each one was enchanted to spring to life each night and their fiery blaze never went out.

"I can see that you're are in despair," Newt pointed out. "Hermione, we will find the room. It doesn't always appear at first." She continued to follow him, turning corner after corner in silence until Newt stopped.

"Here is our plan for tonight: we are not going to scour the castle like we did those other nights. Instead, we are heading back to where I originally found it," he said.

Hermione thought for a minutes in between the pauses and spoke thoroughly.

"Why would we go back there?"

Newt stopped for a minute, digesting her question himself. Why were they going back there? He had a theory, but he didn't know how Hermione would react to it. Instead, he plainly and bluntly spoke to her in a flurry of words and sentences.

"I have a theory, well I don't know how you would perceive it but at this point nothing is happening and there isn't anything to lose considering- never mind, ignore that thought. My point is, if we go back and rekindle your need for the room, it could appear. I suppose that at your hour of need, right now in which you seem in such a state of despair- I don't know, it's silly...," Newt said in a rush. Hermione stood there, she didn't know how to respond. For a while, they stood there awkwardly, Newt was looking at the floor while Hermione was still trying to make sense of the words that flew out of his mouth.

"Well... it wouldn't hurt to try," she said with a smile.

Newt looked up with a little hope. He took her wrist and they ran down the hallway with a new determination. Halfway through, Newt realized what he did and immediately let go.

"Oh-oh.. I'm so sorry Ms Granger, I just thought that- well I thought- we should I don't know, get there in a hurry and in the moment I just-"

Hermione simply laughed. "It's okay. I don't mind, I was caught up in the moment of finding it too. I have a new.. purpose, I suppose, of finding the room... I was in despair, you were right. Everyday, in the papers.. I shouldn't be telling you this, god knows what it can change, but they are attacking Hogwarts and Dumbledore and Harry and the whole ideas of muggle-borns... the world has changed drastically and we need this room. It's unfair and I can't stand it! I lost... I guess I.. I started to doubt you. I shouldn't have."

Newt stood there in amazement, no one had ever spoken or even told him how they felt. He should feel mad right now, but he didn't know how to feel, this hasn't happened before. There were emotions of confusion, gratefulness, and sadness.

"I'm sorry, this is terrible inappropriate to speak to a teacher like-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Newt hugged her, he rested his head on hers and they stood there for a while, enjoying each others embrace. Neither one had ever felt this close to a person, as if they could pour out their hearts to them without a care in the world and the crazy thing is, they barely knew each other. Before the two of them could pull away and speak, a loud sound of iron locks and turns jumped them both to reality. Newt was the first to react, he sprinted down the corridor and turned at a crossroad, choosing right instead of left. Hermione could barely keep up as he continued to run, she never expected him to be this athletic.

Finally, after he turned a third corner, there was a door at the end of a hallway that led into another hallway, going left and right.

"We-we-we... oh my gosh.. we have to tell Ron and Harry!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Shhh!" Newt said.

He walked slowly up to the door and peered around the corner to see if anyone was there. Newt then went across the corridor and put a hand on the door. Hermione closely followed behind him. He then turned the door, which was now wooden, and he entered into the large room. Hermione went in afterward and closed the door as silently as she could behind the two of them. She then turned around and saw Newt a few feet away, staring at amazement and in remembrance of the old room he used as a sanctuary for magical creatures. Hermione walked up and joined him.

They stood in silence as the two surveyed the room. It was a long room, it was wide but it was not equal to the length. There were mirrors lining the sides of the walls and there were stone pillars at the ceiling that didn't not fully come down. A long grate was in the center of the room and next to it on each side was stone.

"This is... different..," Newt finally said.

"How?" Hermione asked.

"Well, when I went to Hogwarts, mind you it was almost seventy years ago-" Hermione let out a small giggle at this. "What? You think it's funny?"

"Oh, just a smidge," she said with a smile.

Newt himself couldn't help but smile, even if it brought back painful memories of Leta and 1926. He trudged through them and continued to speak, trying to forget again.

"Yes, well, continuing, the room was like this, it was long and not large in width, and it was stone but not with mirrors. There were small habitats that were magically enclosed. But, it's just... memories," Newt said with a longing and pain filled expression.

Hermione was curious at Newt's past. She knew the basic information: expelled from Hogwarts, accident in 1926, the Grindelwald threat, etc., but he seemed to have experienced more then he let on... and this is what made her curious. Hermione has a tendency to pry out of curiosity and sometimes it lands her in trouble with teachers or her friends and it results in many, many uncomfortable situations. She just can't help herself.

There was a long awkward pause that Newt filled up with by pretending to inspect the room. Hermione did the same, both of them did not know what to say and they wanted to avoid an odd conversation.

Finally, Newt was the first of the two to speak.

"I-It's rather late. You should probably head to bed... um..."

"I should. Thank you again, for helping. I will tell Harry and Ron of our discovery, however, what if I cannot find the room again?" Hermione asked.

Newt paused for a moment to think, he wasn't really sure what to do. The room appeared to him every time he went searching for it after he found it.

"Well, erm... I believe it will appear from now on... I never had to go searching for it again from my.. past experiences," he said. Newt quickly looked down, he was still shy around Hermione, even after spending a lot of time around her.

"Oh.."

"Yes um, right, off to bed. Early morning again. Please stay out of trouble this time," Newt said with a grin as he swiftly headed towards the door. He held open the door for Hermione, something the boys at Hogwarts never did, and followed her out into the corridor. As they walked away from the entrance to the room, Hermione heard a faint groaning of iron and stone. She turned around to see the once defined features of the wooden door slowly morph into the cool stone of the Hogwarts castle. When the process was complete, it was as if there was never a door or entrance there.

Newt dropped Hermione off back at the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. As he walked away, he could hear the faint but passionate whispers of excitement that resulted from Hermione telling Harry and Ron of her discovery. He was happy for them, however, he soon remembered his promise, or perhaps "quest," to find a way back to 1926. He would of course go to Professor Dumbledore for counsel on this issue. There was obviously a way to create a time-turner, otherwise he wouldn't be in this situation now. The hard part is to find out exactly what needed to be done.

Newt also remembered that tomorrow, or today, would be the day that he could experiment with turning into an animagus. The mandrake leaf in his mouth was not a burden, he first thought it would get in way of speaking and eating but it seemed to dissolve into his right cheek as time went on.

Finally reaching his quarters, Newt reserved himself to sleeping. Luckily, today was Saturday and there would be no need of getting up early. He had the entire day to turn into an animagus.

* * *

Newt woke up later then usual, that is of course to be expected. He checked his watch that was lying on a side table next to his bed. It was noon, he obviously missed breakfast, but today was the day he would experiment with transfiguration.

He looked out the window, it was still January and of course, there was still snow but it was not snowing. Yet, it was still grey and gloomy, this has been the weather for the past few weeks and it seems as though it will never change.

Newt quickly got dressed and fed the animals in his case. He tried to get Pickett to return to the tree with the other bowtruckles, again, but he refused, again. Not wanting to upset Pickett, Newt allowed him to stay with him.

After checking and feeding all the creatures, Newt returned to the Care of Magical Creatures classroom where he set Dow Pickett and opened up multiple books from the restricted section on animagus transformations. Pickett quietly climbed onto one of the closed books and sat down, looking at Newt curiously and fearfully.

 _This shouldn't be too hard,_ he thought.

"Alright Pickett, today I try attempt number one in transforming into an animagus," Newt said while Pickett seemed confused.

"What? Do you not think I can do it?"

Pickett shrugged and was curious as to how this would play out. He ignored his friend's reaction and continued to make preparations.

First, Newt would need to have a mandrake lead in his mouth for a month. The first step was already completed. Next, he would need to drink a potion, something Newt already brewed. He remembers clearly stealing items from Professor Sprout and Professor Snape, both of them eventually blamed Neville Longbottom but Professor Dumbledore stepped in and cleared things up before anything could get... messy... at least that's what he heard from Professor McGonagall. Somehow, Newt thought Professor Dumbledore knew what he was doing, perhaps that's why he stepped in when Neville was about to be punished or maybe he thought it was another student. The final step Newt would have to do is recite a spell.

Newt drank the potion and began to recite the spell.

"Amato Animo Animato Animagus!" Newt said. He didn't feel any different, odd. He took a look at the books again while Pickett looked on in confusion and playfulness. He made his way over to Newt's hand and climbed on top of his shoulder, balancing himself against his neck.

"Odd...," he murmured.

 _Let's try that again,_ he thought.

"Amato Animo Animato Animagus!" Newt yelled. As soon as he said the last syllable, he was pushed back with immense force towards the door. Newt's back hit the corner of a desk and he cried out in pain. In all of the confusion, Pickett fell off of Newt's shoulder and was now hiding under a desk, fearful of what his transpired. Newt groaned and tried to get on his hands but he cried out again. Something was definitely bruised, and hopefully not broken. He felt tired and hurt, all he wanted to do now was sleep, yes, that sounded nice, it was calling to him now.

* * *

 _"Leta!" Newt yelled._

 _The girl named Leta was nearing a hippogriff at an alarming rate, even if she was going step by step._

 _"Shush Newt!"_

 _"Please... Leta, this is not how to go about things... you must bow before approaching one and even then, it must come to you," Newt said frantically._

 _"Why should I bow to it?" she hissed. Newt seemed to be taken aback. One, he did not take kindly to having a creature referred to as an "it," and second, he was afraid of Leta at this moment. Even though they had been friends for two years, she still seemed to surprise him, in good and bad ways._

 _"Leta... please.. please step away... don't do this, I don't want you to get hurt... please," he desperately pleaded._

 _"Newt shut up!" she yelled. At this noise, the hippogriff turned around and kicked its front legs up into the air. Leta stumbled backwards, tripping on her robe and falling to the ground. Newt looked frantically around, not knowing what to do. Instead, he rushed to Leta's side and put his hands up. He looked down and avoided the creature's gaze._

 _"Woah, ca-calm-calm down-down..." he stammered._

 _Leta suddenly recovered from being frozen with fear. She took out her wand and aimed it at the creature._

 _"Newt get back," she said harshly._

 _He refused. He inched forwards, keeping his head down and hunching his shoulders, a trick he learned from his mother and from reading many books. Suddenly he stopped and bowed, deathly afraid to look up. Just as the beast was bowing its head, Leta shrieked, "NEWT MOVE NOW!"_ _._

 _This sent the magical beast into another flurry of emotions. He, or she, kicked its hind legs up, ready to charge towards Newt and Leta._

 _"Stupefy! Stupefy!" she yelled as her spells hit the animal. Newt continued to try to make attempts to calm the hippogriff down, but he now saw that the problem was Leta._

 _"Leta stop!" Newt yelled over the pained cries and roars of the hippogriff._

 _"STUPEFY!" Leta yelled again, and this time, the spell hit Newt who stepped in front of the creature. He was pushed back by an immense force, hitting a tree and rolling over in an attempt to get up, but he instead crumpled to the ground unconscious._

 _Leta looked on horrified at what she just did._

 _"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" Leta yelled. The spell hit the hippogriff and it suddenly fell to the ground silent. Leta sighed with relief, almost forgetting about Newt before a terrified look came across her. She ran over to him and kneeled down, placing his limp body in her lap._

 _"Oh my god! Newt I'm so sorry, I-I was only trying to protect you! Wake up! I made it all better! She is ok!" Leta said frantically. "Wake up! Please!" she said, trying to shake Newt._

 _"I-I-I don't know what to-to do, Newt. I don't know any healing spells! Newt wake up!"_

 _"NEWT!"_

* * *

Newt woke up dizzy and scared by the dream or flashback or whatever it was. That was not a pleasant time in his life and it still haunted him today.

He saw a face full of white fur in front of him and the sound of faint but running footsteps, someone was coming and they were calling his name. He was dazed and his vision was blurry, but he could make out that it must be Dougal on top of his chest right now.

"Newt?"

"Professor Scamander?"

"What happened?"

"Bloody hell, this room looks like a mess!"

"Nevermind the room Ronald! There are more important things now!"

"What is that white furry thing?"

Newt continued to hear many voices until he started to get up, however, as soon as he arched his back forward, Newt cried out in pain. This startled his new guests inside the classroom. He must have looked like a mess currently. Someone helped him lean against a wall or a desk, and he finally saw that it was three people.

"Ugh, I feel awful," was all that Newt could say. Once his vision cleared up a little, he saw that it was Hermione, Harry and Ron kneeling in front of him. He took his head into his hands.

"Professor Scamander, can you hear us?"

"Oh, erm.. no, no not quite yet... ugh... it sounds like I'm underwater..."

"What happened?"

Newt recognized the voice of Ron. He continued to hold his hands to his head, covering his eyes in an attempt to block out any light. It was blinding and it was giving him a headache.

"Well... um-you-you know.. experiments- safe of course-"

"You're lying," Hermione interrupted.

Newt removed his hands and put on a fake face of scandalization.

"Pardon me?"

Hermione continued to look at him and quickly made her way over to his desk.

"Ms, Granger please, I am quite alright, it was just an experiment- Hermione!" Newt said in a desperate attempt to stand up. As soon as he straightened his back, he bit his tongue from yelling in agony again. He instead hunched over and placed a hand on his hip and the other on the desk. Suddenly, Dougal appeared on the desk next to him and looked up at him. Odd.. he was out of the case.

"You're trying to become and Animagus! Aren't you?" Hermione yelled in delight.

Newt continued to look at the Demiguise, ignoring Hermione.

"How'd you get out..." he murmured.

"Excuse me? What is that?" Harry asked.

"Oh-um this is a demiguise, they turn invisible and have a ten- wait, oh my gosh no, not again!" Newt yelled. He attempted to make his way towards his desk as quick as he could.

"Woah! Take it easy there! What's so special of him being out?" Harry asked.

Ron and Hermione suddenly turned deathly pale and realized what must have happened.

"No," whispered Hermione.

"Bloody hell..."

"What? What is it? Could someone try using words to explain this to me?" Harry asked. Newt walked over to his desk with a hand on his back, he sat down at his chair and let out a yelp.

"Oh my gosh! You should go see the nurse! Tell her what happened!" Hermione said in a worried voice.

"No, no, I've suffered worse and I will be fine but there are more important matters," Newt said in one breath. He then began to breath in quick, short breaths, worrying the three students in front of his desk. Pickett revealed himself on Newt's shoulder, looking on with worry while Dougal stood at the food of his chair on his left side.

Newt looked at the case, of course the latches were open.

"Merlins beard. Of course," he muttered.

"I'm getting the nurse or Professor McGonagall or someone," Hermione said.

"No!" Newt yelled as he got up quickly, he immediately regretted it, as he collapsed on the side of his desk.

Ron and Harry ran over to him while Hermione looked on at the incident from the opposite side of the desk.

"You need to see a doctor, why don't you want to go see Madam Pompfrey? Just explain what happened," Ron said.

"I can't," Newt replied.

"And why not?" Ron asked.

"Because- ugh," Newt said and he leaned against the side of the wooden desk.

"I'm technically not allowed to turn into an Animagus..." Newt confessed.

Harry let out a small, "Oh."

"You didn't register, did you?" Hermione said.

"Um..." Newt looked down, avoiding her gaze. He did not want to upset or disappoint the three students. Hermione slowly made her way around the desk.

"Are-are you um.. mad? Erm.." Newt said awkwardly.

The three said nothing. He could sense them looking at each other.

"Wait... why were you here? How did you find me? You obviously came here for a reason," he said in realization.

"We came to tell you the success of finding the room again, it appeared to us, just like you told us," Hermione said.

Al three of them say there awkwardly, not looking at each other, until Harry spoke up.

"You need help either way. We aren't experienced in healing, so obviously we can't do it... We can go get Professor Dumbledore, he'll help."

Newt pondered on this thought.

"Alright fine, but don't tell him the circumstances. I'll- um, I will make up an excuse, perhaps an accident with my erm.. creatures..." he said carefully.

"Go," Hermione said to the two boys. They quickly ran out of the room to get Professor Dumbledore.

"You're an idiot."

"Wha- wait- um what?"

"You can't turn into an Animagus without registration!" Hermione yelled.

"I know, but- but do you think, the- this Ministry would allow em after.. after what erm.. happened?"

Hermione sat there, obviously processing what he just said.

"Doesn't matter now I suppose," she sighed. "There's still the matter of your case, however."

"Oh dear lord, I forgot! Dammit! Some of them must have escaped, but not the large ones, they would have destroyed half the school already."

"Any ideas on which ones escaped?"

"If anyone was going to escape, it would be the Niffler," Newt said with a heavy sign. "Pesky pest! Always wants to get his hands on anything shiny."

"Anything else?"

"No, I don't think so unless, ugh, where did Dougal go?" Newt asked. He looked at his shoulder and saw Pickett there, shrugging.

Hermione smiled.

"He's adorable you know," she said.

Pickett turned a light shade of pink on his cheeks and reserved himself further into Newt's neck, trying to escape embarrassment.

"Now Pickett, don't be embarrassed. Hermione is a friend," Newt said and he took Pickett out.

"Friend?" Hermione repeated.

"Oh, um, I do hope you didn't mind, I apologize if I acted ou-"

"No! no, no I just thought I would never hear you of all people say that. I mean that in a good way too!" she said frantically.

"Oh," Newt squeaked out. He looked down, avoiding her gaze again.

 _I don't understand, you're still shy around her and yet you confirmed you're friends... I can't look up. No, don't, she might say something or you might say something that backfires... wait until she speaks or just say something until Dumbledore arrives. Say something! Anything!_ Newt thought.

Suddenly, to Newt's relief, Dumbledore arrived with Harry and Ron trailing behind him. Hermione stood up and Newt leaned around the desk to find Dumbledore walking quickly. He couldn't tell if he was angry or worried, something that terrified Newt.

He came around the desk and kneeled down. Newt looked at the opposite side of the floor, avoiding Dumbledore.

"What have you done this time?" He said softly.

"Mooncalves, I um.. I wasn't paying attention and I um... fell back and hit my back..." Newt said.

Professor Dumbledore seemed skeptical.

"And yet you made it all the way up here, without passing out, only to suddenly pass out with desks turned over," he said.

"Erm..."

"What actually happened?"

Newt stayed silent. Professor Dumbledore stood up.

"Perhaps I should let Umbridge and the Ministry know of your new injury. Of course, they want to keep a close eye on you. They wouldn't want you hurt," Dumbledore said as he made his way for the door.

"Wait!" Newt yelled.

"Alright, fine... I tried... I tried experiment with Animagus transfiguration..." Newt said with a gullty look.

Professor Dumbledore walked back and looked at him in amazement.

"You won't tell the Ministry, will you?" Ron asked.

Dumbledore sighed. "No, no I won't."

"Thank-thank you..." Newt said.

"I'm taking you to Madam Pompfrey, however."

Newt suddenly turned pale, he hated the hospital wing and it didn't help that he was now afraid of the nurse.

"Help him up would you?" Dumbledore directed towards Harry and Ron.

Newt steadily got up, using the desk to support himself. Dumbledore suddenly tapped his wand on his back.

"Episkey."

Newt yelped.

"There, that should help you for now."

* * *

"What did you do now!" Madam Pompfrey yelled.

"Professor Scamander hurt himself while experimenting with.. what was it again?" Dumbledore said.

"Erm.. Swooping Evil venom?" Newt said in an unsure voice.

Looking skeptical, she commanded them to leave her alone so that she can focus on "fixing" Newt.

"Stay still, I'm going to place a sleeping spell on you. I'm not sure what you did yet but it doesn't look good," the nurse said as she examined Newt's back.

Madam Pompfrey pointed her wand behind Newt's head and whispered, "Somnum."

Suddenly, Newt's eyes felt tired and he placed his head down as the world dissolved into a sea of black.

 **A/N: Hello! I am terribly sorry for the wait for this chapter! I had so much** **going on during the Christmas season with shopping and traveling. I apologize, I will try to update more from here on out.**

 **I have many ideas as to what Newt's animagus could be. I thought about some mythical creature or a type of bird, but I might be set on him being a Corgi XD. I saw some fan art of him being a Corgi and I have two Corgis so might make that his animagus. However, I am also doing some research on different animal personalities since Newt is shy and awkward but at the same time charming and kind. The incantation used is actually the one you need to use in order to become and Animagus. I slightly altered how one turns into an animagus. The original way was to put the mandrake leaf into the potion but instead I kinda left it vague as to the "ingredients" Newt uses so I guess you can infer he uses it.**

 **I have a list of Harry Potter spells so that I can accurately portray the characters casting them but for the sleeping spell, I couldn't find it. The only one that came close was stupefy but that is more violent. However, there is a charm that exists that makes someone sleep, but the spell is unknown. I instead improvised and used the Latin word for sleep as the spell.**

 **I would love some ideas as to what Newt's animagus could be. It will be about one more chapter before he turns into one because you must recite the spell for a while (I'm interpreting it as a week) in order to actually turn into one. Because Newt said it twice in twenty four hours, that is why the spell backfired.**

 **I also hope you enjoyed the Leta Lestrange/Newt flashback! I am probably going to include more flashbacks. In that one, they are in their second year. I don't know how to portray her as we have never seen her before but from what I saw in the mvoie (I saw it three times :3), I thought that she was someone who kinda took advantage of Newt's relationship with her, but I feel like she deeply cares for him. I don't feel as though she would treat him badly but I definitely see their relationship as controlling and manipulative. I don't feel like it shows in the beginning of their time at Hogwarts but perhaps later on. That was just a hint or taste of what might happen.**

 **Also, yes I know, Newt's beasts being loose again but I don't doubt that the Niffler will take any chance of escaping and stealing shiny things. It will be resolved quickly, I don't want to repeat what happened in the movie.**

 **Wow that was really long, sorry but I have so much to say! As always, please leave a review and let me know what you think Newt's animagus should be!**

 **-Athena, Slytherin 💚.**

 **UPDATE:**

 **I have done some research into Newt's personality and the different animals his animagus could be, since the animal he transforms into will be based off of his traits. I have several ideas such as a White Stag, a Griffin, Corgi, Beaver and Owl. They usually are shy and reserve but observant, they also have some problems with people which I thought was a lot like Newt.**

 **Anyway, thought I would update you!**

 **-Athena, Slytherin💚.**


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight: The Niffler Nightmare**

 _"Are you alright Mr Scamander? Can you hear me? Hello?"_

 _Newt was in the medical wing of Hogwarts, but this one was different, it was older then the one in 1995._

 _"Erm.. yes? Wha-what happened?" he asked._

 _"Ms Lestrange came to the castle in a flurry, asking for help in the forest. You were injured. She told us that you tripped over a log and fell down a hill where you hurt your back," the nurse said._

 _"Oh.. um.. yes, I-I remember now," Newt said. He couldn't believe Leta lied about what actually happened. Suddenly, he remembered the hippogriff. Hopefully it is alright, Newt would have to go find it again, but without Leta this time._

 _"Am I alright to leave?" Newt asked, avoiding the gaze of the nurse. She studied him for a minute before making up her mind._

 _"Yes, yes you may, but do take it easy," she replied. Newt practically ran out of the room at the last word. It was now night, it must've been a long time that he's been asleep considering he was only in the forest early in the morning._

 _Waiting outside of the medical wing was Leta. She stood there, still having a sense of terror from their experience._

 _"Newt-"_

 _"Leta, why did you attack the hippogriff! She wasn't going to attack you! She was about to bow and everything was going to be alright until you started attacking it!" Newt said in a harsh whisper._

 _"I-I know I'm sorry! But it's not my fault entirely, had you not stepped in front of the beast, maybe you wouldn't have gotten hurt!" she argued._

 _Newt was stunned, somehow Leta was going to pin the blame on him._

 _"So you're blaming me, huh?" he said quietly._

 _"No, no, ugh, I didn't mean it like that-"_

 _"No, Leta, I think you did," Newt said as he rushed forward, wanting to Leta to leave him alone. Before he could run back to the Hufflepuff common room, Leta grabbed his wrist._

 _"Leta, let me go!"_

 _"Newt, please just listen. Look, I'm sorry, I'll try not to do it again. I-I was scared, I'll admit it. I don't have as big of an understanding of creatures like you but I did know you were going to get hurt, I-I guess I tried to prevent it," she said with a small grin that quickly faded._

 _This was how things were, Leta would do something that Newt didn't like and he would try to run away from it, but no matter what, Leta was always there to apologize again and again, it was as though she never cared for her mistakes. Her words had empty meanings, but Newt couldn't abandon her._

 _"Leta, please," Newt said pleadingly. She did not remove her hand from his wrist, they were now staring at each other._

 _"Can you forgive me?l"_

 _"Leta, of-of course," Newt said. She smiled at him in a sweet but cynical way. She hugged Newt, and for a moment, he felt happy and sad at the same time._

* * *

Newt woke up in a flurry of emotions after what he just experienced, which was a dream or, what exactly was it? He could remember that memory so clearly, it was an example of how Leta manipulated and controlled him, it wasn't exactly his happiest memory now that he looked back at it.

No one was in the medical wing currently, so Newt decided to get up, assuming that his injuries healed. He was laying on his stomach, Newt noticed there were bandages wrapped around the mid part of his abdomen, again. He found his waistcoat and shirt in the side table and got dressed swiftly. Suddenly, a small little green branch like creature appeared on the bed.

"Hello Pickett, wonderful er..," Newt said looking at the window,"wonderful morning we're having!" Pickett then pointed to the window, indicating the weather.

"Ah, erm well it is January...," Newt said. It was again gloomy out but this time there was snow for once. It was no longer grey, but instead a blinding white.

"Come on Pickett," he said as he held it his arm. Pickett climbed on and made his way to Newt's shoulder. He quickly walked out of the room, not wanting to risk running and hurting his back even more.

 _What went wrong with the spell..._ Newt thought.

Inside the Care of Magical Creatures classroom, it was not how Newt left it. The desks were now neatly upright and in rows, just how Newt had them before his experiment accident. Remembering the case, Newt jogged over to his desk in the back of the room with his back aching, but it wasn't a bother too much. Luckily he found the case securely closed to his surprise.

 _Must've been Dumbledore,_ Newt thought.

There was still the problem of Dougal and the Niffler, however. Newt hoped that they have not caused much ruckus or mayhem yet. Deciding he would deal with it later today, Newt was more interested as to why the spell did not work. He took the many books from the library he had and began to read.

Newt read for many hours, curious why the spell didn't work. His reading was suddenly interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Erm, yes? Yes, come in?" Newt said unsure, it was most likely Hermione, Harry and Ron.

To his surprise, however, it was none other then Professor McGonagall. Newt quickly got up from his desk and started to put the books back into his desk, afraid that the professor might discover what he is doing.

"Good afternoon, Professor Scamander," she said.

"Aft-Afternoon?" Newt said, stunned.

"Yes, it is the afternoon I believe," she said in a joking way while pointing to the window.

"Ah, yes.. erm... sorry I was doing.. research," he said.

Professor McGonagall looked a little skeptical of his explanation but continued to speak.

"Professor Scamander-"

"Please just call me Newt," he said.

"Alright, Newt, Professor Dumbledore asked me to speak with you on your Animagus transfiguration."

"Pardon me?" Newt said as he turned pale quickly.

"You are working towards the goal of becoming an Animagus, are you not?" she asked.

"Erm..."

"Professor Dumbledore told me, he is quite worried you actually might kill yourself next time," Professor McGonagall said.

"Uh... alright, but didn't he- um- he told me he wasn't going to... tell anyone," Newt squeaked out.

"He wasn't going to tell the ministry," she corrected him. "Neither will I because I believe that you are becoming one in order to study creatures more closely? It is a fine use of transfiguration," she said. Newt was mostly going to do this as a way to distract himself from thinking of 1926, but perhaps this was also another good reason.

"Well... erm-" Newt started to say.

"You have the correct incantation, I assume?"

"Yes, I-I tried repeating it yesterday but.. obviously it went.. wrong."

"Did you say it twice?" she said annoyingly.

"Um... what if I did say it twice?"

"Dear lord, didn't they teach you anything at Hogwarts? You're suppose to learn about Animagi in your third year!" she said loudly. There was a mix of horror and terror on her face with a hint of scandalization.

"Well, Transfoguration was never my best subject..." Newt said. Professor McGonagall looked on with disappointment and pity.

"How many times have you recited the spell?" she asked.

"Twice, yesterday," Newt replied.

"Say it again today, and for five more days do it. Oh! And please do it once, Mr Scamander!" she said.

"Newt," he corrected her. The woman was about to leave when she turned around and walked back. Newt was now terrified of her as she swiftly made her way towards him. He was afraid Professor McGonagall was going to slap him but instead, she just handed him a letter.

"Professor Dumbledore also asked me to deliver this to you. It's from the Ministry," she said. Professor McGonagall turned on her heel and quickly exited the room. Newt took the letter in his hands and sat down, terrified of what the Ministry might say.

He turned the beige letter in his hands, rotating it on his fingers. It was from the Minister! This could either be good or bad, most likely the latter of the two, in Newt's opinion. He then turned it on the side where there was a red wax seal with the Ministry's symbol on it. Slowly, Newt opened it and took out the letter. He unfolded the parchment and the letter read:

 _Dear Mr Scamander,_

 _The Department of Mysteries may have discovered a way to re-create another time-turner. Professor Dumbledore expressed to us your want of going back to 1926 and your goal to research and if possible, create another time-turner in order to do so. The Ministry would gladly like to help you achieve this, you must remember that this is a new experience and experiment for us. They are now just doing research into it, they are very ecstatic at this opportunity. If you could please set aside any plans and visit me at the Ministry on the 1 March, 1996. I await your response._

 _-Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge._

1 March was so far away, a little less then three months away! Newt was still happy for the chance to go back to 1926, nonetheless. He wondered how things turned out for Queenie and Jacob, especially with Jacob's bakery. And above all, he thought of what happened to Tina the most. Oh, how he missed her. They may have only been together for what, three days, but they went through experiences some people may never go through in a life time. Sometimes, Newt was tempted just to look into a book, and see what happened to them. Even more, he wanted to know the fate of his family and Leta. He did not wish them ill, of course not, but he knew they were meddling in some risky areas, especially Leta and his brother Theseus.

Leta was always in his dreams, they were nightmares when she was in them, which made Newt wonder about his subconscious. He loved Leta at one point, why couldn't his mind give him the happy memories he had with her? Perhaps this was all just a side affect of time-travel, but it still worried and haunted him.

Pickett made Newf jump back to reality by chewing on his finger lightly. He never thought about his past that deeply until now, always trying to suppress the memories or else he will be tempted to look into the future.

"Ouch! Pickett! Now, we spoke about this!" Newt said in an annoyed tone. All Pickett did was shrug.

Newt sighed, "I can never stay mad at you." He tried for a smile, in which Pickett replied with a grin but suddenly, it faded. He scurried as fast as he could off of Newt's arm and on to the desk. Desperately, he pointed at the case. Now why would he point at the case...

"The case! Oh thank you for reminding me!" Newt said.

Quickly, Newt took the case and placed it on the stone floor besides his desk. He was sure to make it hidden behind it in case there were any unwanted visitors. Newt undid the latches and swiftly made his way down the sturdy but narrow ladder. Pickett hopped on Newt's head in a frantic attempt to now be forgotten. The bowtruckle then seated itself in Newt's pant pocket.

Once Newt's feet hit the wooden floors of the small room that leads into the animal enclosures, he opened the door and dashed across the enclosures, quickly stopping at each one. Pickett could barely hang on in Newt's pocket, with him jumping, Pickett almost was flung out three times.

"Of course the Niffler has gone loose!" Newt yelled.

As he checked more enclosures, Newt seemed to calm down a bit.

"The only other one gone is Dougal. Not a surprise. Probably wants to take care of the pesky pest," Newt said, annoyed.

Newt made his way back to his desk and quickly closed the latches. He grabbed his turquoise coat and ran to the entrance of the classroom and flew down the hallways of the castle. He was panicking, if Umbridge ever found out, he would have to leave and he didn't know what he would do and, Newt was afraid the Niffler might accidentally hurt a student while attempting to get its hands on anything shiny. Newt thought of the first place if might go, it would most likely search the Great Hall first since there are many platters, cups, plates, and silverware that would attract the little beast's attention. From what Professor McGonagall said, it was noon, but Newt didn't bother to check. He just hoped that there were enough students in there so that he could play it off as if he is eating lunch. Most professors and staff eat breakfast, lunch and dinner on the weekends, and today was Sunday luckily.

Newt made it to the entrance of the Great Hall, there were many students walking in and out, sitting at different tables with their groups of friends and eating the many treats that were offered on the plates. Newt checked himself over, making sure he looked orderly and neat after he rushed to find the Niffler. He walked down towards the staff table, there were Hufflepuffs and Slytherins sitting at their respected tables to his left and Gryffindors and Ravenclaws sitting at their tables. He tried to discreetly look around the room, seeing if he can catch any sight of black fur moving around quickly. Newt made it to the front of the room and sat down in the seat he usually takes which is between Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall. Professor Snape scared Newt, he was quiet, but when he spoke, it was slowly and commanding, and some of the things he said unnerved Newt. However, Professor McGonagall on the other hand was a complete delight to talk to. She was charming and curious, listening intently to many or Newt's stories and was patient with him when he asked questions of his own about her and her stories she shared.

Newt sat down in the wooden chair, placing his case next to him, it was close enough to reach if he saw the Niffler. Professor Snape was there, slowly sipping from a goblet. He looked at Newt in a curious and weird way, his eyes were unmoving and his facial features did not flinch as he sat down.

"Finally care to join us, Professor Scamander?" he said coldly.

"Ah, yes, I was just taking care of.. work," Newt said as he surveyed the room. There was the usual four long dark wood tables that sat each of the four houses. He suppose the Niffler would most likely target the outer ones, Ravenclaw and Slytherin, because they are easier to be unnoticed and it is a better way to escape through the nearby windows. In addition to this, the ceiling had many candles that were glistening like crystals, the only way to get up there would be to climb up the walls. While they were not lit, the wax gave off a look of silver. There was also the fact of Professor Dumbledore's chair, it was large and it looked like gold, Newt wouldn't be surprised if it was gold. The Niffler would definitely be attracted to that but it would have trouble stuffing it into its pouch.

"Hello? Professor Scamander, are you even listening?" Snape said annoyingly.

"Erm.. what? Sorry, I'm just curious..," Newt said.

"I said, Madam Pompfrey is furious with you. She does not take kindly to having her patients run out on her," he said.

"Oh.. erm.. thanks?" Newt said awkwardly. Newt turned his head towards the Slytherin table, surveying it. Out of the corner of his eye, Newt saw a furry little creature run across a table, stealing anything shiny and placing it in its pouch quickly. Newt turned his head quickly and saw that it ducked under the table, avoiding the students that were spread out along the it.

"Absolutely not!" Newt said frantically. He must have frightened Snape, who spilled a little of whatever his drink was on his robes. Newt got up and took his case from beside the table and ran around the staff table, making his towards what seemed to be the Gryffindor table. He wasn't sure, however, as all the students were not wearing their robes and instead were outfitted in muggle clothing. The Niffler now knew that t caught the attention of a furious Newt who moved at the speed of light towards the window. Newt took out his wand and apparated next to the window where the Niffler was, only to have the ghastly beast squeeze out in time before Newt could yell 'Accio.' He watched desperately as it made its way down the snow covered hill on the side of the Great Hall. Deciding he could not let the Niffler escape, Newt was about to apprate outside when something, or someone, tugged at his coat. It was Dougal. The little furry creature pointed outside and Newt looked down, scooping up the little beast.

"Yes, I know," Newt told Dougal. The white creature then pointed towards the center of the room.

"What is it?" Newt asked before he looked up, part of the Great Hall was silent. Only the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs seem to be oblivious to what happened, as well as the staff that were on that side of the room. However, Professor Umbridge looked enraged. Newt quietly placed Dougal inside his case and apparated outside towards the direction the Niffler went before Umbridge could make her way over and lecture him again about creatures and the Ministry not allowing "such dangerous apparation!"

Newt lost his balance while apparating and fell on the snowy ground. He was immediately covered in snow and it gave him chills. Poor Pickett was starting to freeze moments after they got outside. Newt then saw the black fury creature run across the school grounds towards the forest he arrived in. He picked up his brown leather case and began to apparate small distances to catch up to the Niffler. The cold wasn't affecting Newt, the adrenaline of running and the constant apparation continued to wear the snow off of him and his coat. He knew, however, that once the heat that built up inside of him from running was extinguished, he would be stealthy cold. Luckily, when he reached the outskirts of the forest, there was good cover from the falling snow. The large trees have enormous leaves of al different colors: mostly a dark green, but there were some black, brown and a shade of an incredibly dark blue. It would be unusual to see such trees in the muggle world, as their type of trees withered their leaves in the winter for some odd reason, Newt didn't understand this. However, at Hogwarts, the trees are magical and enchanted, quite different from the muggle world in large ways.

Newt continued to make a hasty approach to the fury Niffler, but it was now getting hard to see. In the snow, it was easy to spot him in the sea of white but now, in the forest, the ground was made of sticks, leaves and other plant life that were all dark colors, it would be easy for the Niffler to camouflage here.

Before the beast could get away, Newt pointed his wand at the Niffler as he continued to run and apparate.

"ACCIO!" Newt yelled, putting power into his words.

He assumed the Niffler would come flying towards him like he did last time in New York, but instead, he was greeted with a large stick flying towards him. Newt panicked, he didn't know what to do, and in the moment, the stick hit him in the face, the force sending him on his back. He again cried out in pain as that was the latest injury he was recovering from. Newt laid on the ground, catching his breath. The pesky pest has gotten away this time.

"Oh, hello there," a girl's voice said.

Newt looked up and got onto his knees slowly, crunching the leaves with his weight. His back continued to hurt but it should be over, it seems as though it is only bruised and it did sound like anything snapped. He saw not too far off, a young girl who had his Niffler in her hands. Newt quickly got up and was stunned, he walked towards her with caution, not knowing if she realized he was there. He continued to put all his weight on one foot at a time, he used this technique in order to be more still and quiet when observing a magical creature.

The Niffler looked up at the girl and was trying to get to one of her earrings, the other one was missing, Newt assumed she caught the beast trying to take the other one.

"Silly thing," she said.

"Careful, that Niffler will steal anything shiny you have on currently," Newt said quietly.

"Oh, I know," she giggled.

"Please... please just come over here and erm.. place him inside my case...," Newt said awkwardly. He opened the latches but kept the case closed. The Niffler turned and was now struggling to get out of the girl's grip. Newt knew she probably couldn't hold on any longer, and he ran over to her side, taking the fury animal in his hands and turning the Niffler upside down. He started to shake the Niffler downwards, just like he did each time the ghastly beast stole something. It again, tried to cover its pouch by curling up into a small black ball, but Newt tickled its stomach, having some joy in doing so. While it was an annoying creature to have, Newt has warmed up to the beast in the past, always having a love-hate relationship of some sorts.

Many treasures came out of the pouch, goblets, silverware, plates, and even jewelry. It all piled up on the floor of the forest and once there seemed to be nothing left, the Niffler looked up to Newt in a n innocent face.

"Really?" he asked. All the Niffler did was shrug.

"Paws off.. what doesn't... belong to you!" Newt said as he struggled to get the animal into his case. Once the Niffler gave up and went inside, Newt closed the latches quickly and picked up his case. Suddenly, he forgot that there was a girl standing there. She was looking on with awe and amazement.

"Terribly sorry about that, he is attracted to anything shiny, it's not really his fault... um... did he.. happen to take anything?" Newt asked, looking at the girl's shoulder.

"Oh, he might've taken my earring, but it's quite alright. People these days take my stuff and hide it as a joke," she said.

"That's.. that's awful..," he said.

"I don't mind, it's just a joke," she said.

There was silence for a while until Newt looked up.

"Erm.. I'm Newt Scamander.. by the way," he said, holding out his hand.

"Oh, I know, Professor Scamander. I'm a Hogwarts student, I'm also in your class. My name is Luna, Luna Lovegood," she said, shaking his hand.

"Luna..." he whispered, trying to remember where he heard that name before. "Oh! Of course, Luna how could I forget... Terribly sorry I didn't even realize that was.. erm.. you.. with you being out of your Hogwarts rob-"

She smiled such a pure and innocent smile. "It's alright, I was just glad to enjoy quite the spectacle there."

Newt looked up at her for the first time and actually got a glimpse of what she looked like, not a blur of colors when he usually glances up, only to avoid looking again. Luna had beautiful long, blonde hair. It was long, very long indeed. Right now, however, she had odd sunglasses on top of her head, they were pink with little spikes poking out of the exterior. One eye of the glassses were blue while the other one was red, how peculiar. She wore what Newt thought was a pink coat which puffed out a bit towards the bottom. Underneath that, Luna wore a black skirt with embroidered decorations what were blue, red, yellow and green from what Newt could tell.

"Erm.. I don't mean to pry.. but why exactly are you out here? I thought the forest was forbidden to students," Newt asked.

"Oh, I dunno, I just like the feel of it. You know nature. It's quite wonderful to look at the sights and sounds of the forest, and the creatures," she said. Luna started to walk back from where they came from and Newt followed her, not wanting her to get lost or hurt in the forest.

Suddenly, Newt forgot about all the silverware back in the spot he and Luna left.

"Merlins beard... Pardon me, I'll be right back," Newt said as he turned and went back a few paces.

"Windgardium leviosa!"

The plates, silverware, goblets and other items quickly floated upward and followed Newt and Luna as they continued their way back to the castle.

"Harry and Hermione told me you helped them find the Room of Requirement," Luna said, interrupting any thoughts Newt had.

"Oh... um... did they tell anyone else?" he said worryingly. He didn't want it getting out he knew where the room was, or how to find it. Umbridge would be furious for no apparent reason and would make any excuse to get Newt arrested or thrown out of Hogwarts, the lady did not like him at all.

"Well, I dunno if you know, but they are-"

"Making some sort of Defense Against the Dark Arts club," Newt said finishing her sentence. She looked up in a sort of dreamy state, he looked down immediately, turning a light shade of red.

"Sorry, that was rude, I-I.. so-"

"No, no, don't be sorry," Luna said. "Only a few people know from what I heard. I'm pretty sure Cho Chang, Neville Longbottom, and a few other Gryffindors know, do you know them?" she continued on.

"Um.. I have heard of Neville and I'm not sure who Ms Chang is," he said. Luna nodded. They now reached the outskirts of the forest and it seems as though it was snowing even harder now.

"Well it was nice talking to you Professor Scamander, but I should get back to the castle," Luna said. Newt felt bad, he needed to get back to, and he was going to do so through apparition but he didn't want Luna to trudge through this dreadful weather.

"Do you know of apparation, Ms Lovegood?" Newt asked as Luna walked away, she wasn't only a few feet ahead of him and she turned around.

"Just call me Luna and yes, I have," she said.

"I need to go back to the castle as well, do you want to apparate there with me?" Newt asked innocently, he stared down at the forest floor as soon as he spoke those words.

"I haven't ever experience apparation, I would love to!" she said, walking over to Newt. He placed his arm out and Luna put her arm through his. He gave her a reassuring smile as the forest setting slowly melted away in a flurry and it soon revealed a corridor of Hogwarts, it was one of the four hallways that surrounded a courtyard. Once they arrived in a noise that sounded like a pop, the two of them caught the eyes of some students passing on the other side.

"Terribly sorry, I meant to apostate in front of the _other_ courtyard, the-the one you were heading for..." Newt rambled out.

"No, this is perfect. Either way that was amazing, at least you got us into the castle. My father told me of how some people terribly splinch themselves while doing it and sometimes die," Luna said. Newt stood there, a little shocked from her bluntness.

"Then-then why did you erm.. risk apparition?" he asked curiously.

"Because I trust you, your a professor, and you are also Newt Scamander so why not," she said reassuringly with a smile. This was a new feeling to Newt. He never experienced someone actually say the words "I trust you" to him, not counting of course the leap of fate Ms Goldstein took, however. God, he still had nightmares from that death chamber and he entire experience at MACUSA, it gave him anxiety and it deathly scared him. Newt was about to delve into his thoughts once again before Luna took him out of his trance.

"Thank you Professor Scamander, I must be going now," Luna said as she skipped away. Newt looked at her as she disappeared around a corner, heading to her house common room. His lips curled into a smile, this was something he wasn't going to forget.

 **A/N: Wow! I don't know how you guys are going to perceive my characterization of Luna Lovegood, I tried my best since I am have never written her before but I hope you like it anyway!**

 **If you didn't know, a few years after the battle of Hogwarts, Luna married Rolf Scamander, Newt and Tina's grandson, so I thought that it would be cool to have an intereaction between them. I feel like the two of them share a kind of brotherly/sisterly bond that comes together when they talk about magical beasts and nature and anything in general. They're similar in some ways, and I am probably going to expand on their relationship even more because I love writing these two together. Don't worry though, Hermione and Newt will still have more intereactions to come. The main difference between the two relationships is that Hermione has sort of a little crush on Newt and admires him, the two of them together really highlights each others clever and intelligent traits while I feel like Luna really shows Newt to be human and funny sometimes. I really want to show that Newt can have a fun time too, and he doesn't have to be so serious about everything.**

 **In addition to this, the next chapter will have a little time skip because it is time that Newt becomes an Animagus. In this chapter he did not recite the spell but it will be mentioned that he does later on in the day. Also, his first few tries will not work, it is common for wizards and witches to not succeed at first. However, since Newt has a closer communication and connection with his creatures, it will make it easier to transform. I don't want to give too much away but you can be assured that Newt will show off his Animagus form to Harry, Hermione and Ron, and incentive i develop Newt and Luna's relationship, I think I'm going to have her know as well.**

 **Going back to Luna and Newt's relationship again, I feel like he will be more comfortable, if not the most comfortable with Luna. At first, he is shy, it's like that with everyone you meet, or at least that how t is for me personally.**

 **Also, before I make Newt's Animagus, give me any feedback as to what you think it could be! I would love to hear what you think is most like him!**

 **As always, please leave a review!**

 **-Athena, Slytherin💚.**

 **NOTICE: MAY UPDATE CHAPTER. I WILL NOTIFY IN THE BEGINNING OF THE NEXT CHAPTER.**


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine: The Animagus Transfiguration**

For the next week, Newt had resumed teaching classes after his little incident with the Niffler, but it did not go unpunished. Umbridge met with him later that night and was quite furious as well as pleased, she thought she now had the perfect excuse to have Newt fired, and for a moment, he had too.

"Professor Scamander, do you mind explaining yourself as to why that.. _thing.._ was out about and wreaking havoc!" she yelled.

"If isn't his fault, the Niffler is naturally attracted to anything shiny and valuable, it is in his nature," Newt said hastily, defending his friend.

"That does not mean you still have any right to have it loose! It disrupted the students' lunch period! I would gladly like to eat in peace next time!" she said. "The minister would be notified of this!" Umbridge last said in a fit of fury before leaving. All Newt did was stare at the door, frozen for what might happen next.

Luckily, nothing happened. He had still not received any official letter from the Ministey of the Minister, and Dumbledore had not even visited him to speak of it. However, Newt was still worried a week later, there was always the benefit of the doubt, that is how he always survived treating dangerous creatures.

Today, it was Saturday, it was also the last day Newt had to say the dreadful spell to transform into and Animagus. He planned on experimenting throughout the night, as he was so excited to become an animal, or creature, you never know. He prepared to speak the finial words. Newt opened up many books, some of them slanted and others facing upward. Pickett revealed himself on the desk, the green stick-like creature made its way over to a closed book and sat on it, both curious and worried about Newt. Newt turned around, facing Pickett, giving a small grin before raising his wand. Taking a deep breath, he spoke:

"Amato Animo Animato Animagus!" Newt said loudly and confidently.

He stull did not feel a change, something must have gone wrong. Newt went over to the books on the desk, but before he could look at any of them, he suddenly felt sick to his stomach. Newt tried holding back any liquid that was trying to make its way up out of his mouth, and so, he ran over to his case and quickly summoned a bucket. When the bucket was about to land, the feeling overwhelmed Newt, so much in fact that half the liquid was on the ground and not in the bucket. Pickett looked on in disgust, however, he did have sympathy. Slowly, the bowtruckle made his way over to Newt, climbing onto his shoulder and rubbing the part of Newt's neck where his brown curly hair met his skin. Newt continued to hover over the bucket, he would of tanked Pickett already but he was too afraid to throw up anymore. His stomach felt empty or anything, as though all the water left his system, leaving him dry. Newt sat down the cool, hard stone of the castle, and leaned against the dark wooden desk. The wood creaked under his weight as he leaned back. Pickett quickly maneuvered to avoid being squished. Newt sat there for what felt like gen minutes but was in fact an hour. He was caught up in staring at the ceiling, trying to keep anything he could down.

After a few more minutes, Newt decided to give another go at transfigurating into an Animagus, even though he knew it probably wasn't the best decision. So, in order to solve this problem, Newt went over to his case, un did the latches and stepped in, taking one step at a time with Pickett staying on his shoulder in support of his human friend. He clung to the side of the steps carefully as he was one-handed at the moment, his left hand had the bucket in it while his right held onto the small ladder piece next to the steep stairs. Once Newt reached the bottom, he groaned, feeling as though he was going to throw up again. Dropping the metal bucket with a clank, Newt slowly walked over to his workshop, taking it step by step again. Suddenly, he felt another rush and ran back to the metal bucket. Pickett again rubbed the back of his neck, nuzzling up to it as more fluids rushed out of Newt. He stood up shakily and made another attempt to go to his workshop.

"Tha-thanks Pickett," Newt finally gasped.

Pickett shook his head and gave a smile of approval as he hopped off of Newt's hand and onto the light wooded desk. Newt stood, leaning his stomach on the table for support as he went through many different drawers, opening and closing them, obviously looking for something. Finally, he took out two different tablets, one green and one blue, as well as a small vial of a clear, bubbling liquid. He poured it out into a grey, metal goblet. Newt the. Newt took the tablets in his hands and turned them over. The blue one was to reduce any lightheadedness or headaches, and the green one was used to reduce any nausea. He placed them in his mouth and drank the liquid. A chill ran down his spine, as it usually did when he took any type of medicine, liquid or not. Newt was not fond of medicine even as a child, he never liked being treated for any injuries.

He felt a little better, enough to probably eat but perhaps not try to turn into and Animagus again. However, Newt wanted to become one badly, and so he returned upstairs, taking his place in front of the desk while Pickett looked on. Another bucket that was cleaned out was placed next to Newt's case at the bottom of the desk to the side, just in case.

"Let's try this again, shall we?" Newt said with a whisper.

He raised his wand right above his head. Newt concentrated on his creatures and being an animal, focusing on the positive memories and not the negative, perhaps this would help in some way. Slowly Newt raised the wand a little higher, closed his eyes, and brought it down gracefully, again stating:

"Amato Animo Animato Animagus," he said, feeling at peace. Newt opened his eyes, thinking that it worked, but nothing changed. Maybe he couldn't turn into an animagus? His answers were questioned when another wave of nausea hit him like a brick wall. Newt ran over to the bucket, throwing up again. This time it felt worse, though. He fell into his knees and held each side of the bucket with his hands, they were shaking and his body was weak. Newt suddenly fell on his side, his wand rolled away ever so slightly. It was in reaching distance but Newt couldn't move, not that he couldn't, just that he didn't want to. He felt so drained, drained of magic, drained of life, absolutely drained. Newt decided to rest, just lay there for a while, and then he would get up and try again. This was at least a good sign, these affects show that Newt does have the potential and ability to turn into an Animagus. Which one would he become? It is quite curious what the magic will choose for him since his animal will be based off his personality and traits. He wishes to be a Pegasus or some sort of flying creature but Newt knew he didn't share any common traits with these animals. The only thing he wishes for is to NOT be an insect, at all costs, it would be a complete waste! His beasts would eat him up in an instant! Newt continued to think about this for a while and he lauded there, motionless.

* * *

 _It was Newt's second year at Hogwarts and a month after the Hippogriff incident. He walked in the snow with Leta, all bundled up in robes, they were heading towards the lake forba quiet, peaceful walk. However, unbeknownst to Newt, Leta had a surprise for him. They walked down a hill, stepping carefully on the icy stone steps, making sure not to slip and fall. It was a gorgeous view from where they were. The iced over lake stretched out for miles, the forest along the lake had a think layer of snow over it, creating a sense of a winter wonderland._

 _"So, how have your classes been?" Newt asked, trying to fill the silence._

 _"Oh, they've been alright. I love Charms and Potions so much but I cannot stand Defense Against the Dark Arts. There isn't any fun! We study from a textbook and just practice waving our wands around like fools. Where are these "dark creatures?" How scared are they? Ha!" Leta said._

 _"I know Leta.. I have the same class, but with the Raveclaw second years," Newt pointed out._

 _"My bad," she said sarcastically. "How bout you? Any classes interest you?"_

 _"Care of Magical Creatures, and Potions. I feel more connected to the creatures more then humans... I've never.. I've never admitted that to anyone... Don't tell anyone please!" Newt said frantically._

 _Leta simply laughed. "And who am going to tell? My entire classmates in my year despise me. Suits them right to be afraid of me. Besides, you're my friend, I wouldn't tell a soul anyway," she said, taking her fingers and making a line from one corner of her lip to the other, indicating she would not tell anyone. Newt smiled, Leta was someone who understood._

 _They were quiet for a while, Leta was anxious she lost the place where she set up her suprise. Newt just took in the sights and the breath of fresh air, oblivious to Leta's feelings. Suddenly, she grabbed his arm and forced him one way, startling Newt._

 _"Who-wait. What are, where are we going now? This is father away from the lake," Newt asked._

 _"Just wait," she said. Leta started to recognize the familiar way of the trees, how they parted and the color of them. They passed a small pond with a log over it, something Leta definitely remember passing while setting her surprise up. She then turned Newt around._

 _"Close your eyes," she commanded._

 _"Um.. why?" Newt asked skeptically._

 _"Do it," Leta commanded again. Looking at her curiously, he did as she told him. Newt was at least two inches above Aleta so it made it hard for her to cover his eyes for him. Let's just had to trust Newt. Slowly, she guided him forward, passing and telling him when to duck, step up or maneuver another way in order to avoid the many obstacles of the forest. They then stepped into a medium sized clearing where there was a thick sheet of white snow covering the ground. On either side, there were two walls of snow._

 _"Open," Leta whispered. Newt looked on confused._

 _"Um..."_

 _"Snow ball fight! I challenge you, Newton Scamander, to a snowball fight, to finally see who better. Let's see if you live up to your word. And NO MAGIC!" Leta added on. Newt has previously bragged to Leta about his snow ball fight abilities, always beating his brother, Theseus Scamander, at every game. At the time, Newt was eight, and Theseus was thirteen, starting his third year at Hogwarts and he came home for the Christmas break. His brother was hot-headed, thinking he was perfect just because he was in Gryffindor and a Seeker for the Quidditch team. Newt was smart enough to use his smaller size to advantage, hiding and ambushing his brother all the time. Sometimes he would get mad at how Newt "cheated" with his size. His snowball fights used to be fun, before Theseus went to Hogwarts. They were closer before Hogwarts._

 _Newt stood there, thinking about this, hoping that his memories with Theseus wouldn't be how he and Leta ended up._

 _"I accept your challenge," Newt said, bowing gracefully. She smiled in a devilish way._

 _"Alright, you get that side," she said pointing to the right, "and I get that side," Leta said, pointing to the left._

 _They took their places, Newt squatted in his base, trying to make a plan. He was taller then Leta, so he wouldn't be able to use size to his advantage. Before he could make any real plan, a snowball landed five feet from where Newt was._

 _"If your accuracy is like that, you may as well give up now!" Newt teased. He heard a faint giggle from Leta. Newt rolled a small snowball up in his gloves hand. He moved to a tree, hiding behind it. From the side, there was a bush that Newt peered out from. Leta got up and was slowly walking over to where his base was. As she got near it, she expected a surprise attack, but when she threw the snowball down, there wasn't a grunt in surprise, instead it was silent. Shocked, she looked around, and once she turned her back, Newt jumped out of his hiding place and threw the snowball right into her back. Let's suddenly cried out in surprise and fell to the ground, motionless in the snow._

 _"Newt! Ow... that hurt... ugh... I-I can't move my back! It feels bruised. Newt seriously!" Leta yelled._

 _Newt panicked, he didn't mean to hurt her and he rushed to her side quickly._

 _"Oh my god, I'm so sorry Leta! I-I- oh my god, are you alright? Try-try sitting up?" Newt said unsure. Suddenly, as Leta rolled on her back slowly, she sprung up and shoved a snowball in Newt's shoulder. Shocked, he didn't see that Leta suddenly tackled him to the ground, taking another small piece of snow a putting it to his neck. Newt let out a small scream from the coldness of the snow on his neck. He tried to get up but Leta quickly pinned him down and Newt struggled against her grip. One, he was cold from the snow which totally threw him off. Second, Leta's weight was focused on keeping him down in the snow, which made it even more difficult to get up._

 _"I win!" Leta says proudly and the two of them both starting to burst out laughing. "I wasn't going to waste my shot."_

 _"Not fair, you totally tricked me," Newt said defensively._

 _"Not my fault you actually care about me," she said with a smile._

 _"Um.. can I get up now," Newt asked awkwardly._

 _"No," Leta replied._

 _"Erm.. If I may ask why?"_

 _"Because... I'm not done.. it's funny when you let out that girlish scream," Leta giggled. She took another piece of snow._

 _"Leta-Leta we-we can talk about this! Please- OH MY GOD," Newt screamed a little louder this time as Leta placed even more snow on his neck and face._

 _"I'M GOING TO GET HYPOTHERMIA FROM THIS!" Newt yelled again. Leta continued to laugh as Newt was becoming angry in a lovable way. Once Newt calmed down, he looked up at her, he had never seen her this beautiful before. There were flakes of snow in her hair, there was enough spread out among her chocolate curls that it made her look gorgeous. Newt had always thought Leta looked beautiful, as a friend, but now, it was different. There was an awkward silence for a small while as the two of them kept staring at each other._

 _Leta felt the same way. It was adorable how Newt reacted to the snow. It was just snow really, a solidified liquid in all honesty. She really didn't want to move, she enjoyed his presence and just the overall personality of him. Newt brought a light into her life, her dull, boring life. But now, Hogwarts was full of adventures, for the both of them. They're both experiencing new emotions, friendship, trust and maybe even love?_

 _"Um... as much as I would love to keep staring at you, I'm afraid you actually might get hypothermia," Leta said, blushing. Newt was surprised by her comment, what did she mean?_

 _"Uh.." was all Newt could say. Let's got off of Newt and held her hand up, helping Newt stand up. There was a little snow still on his cheek. Let's put her hand up to it, his cheek was surprisingly warm. Slowly, Leta flaked off the snow, not wanting to leave this place, or remove her hand. After she did, Newt looked down, blushing._

 _"Lets go back," Leta said, as she took Neat's hand and started running back towards the castle._

* * *

Newt woke up dizzy. There was a small tapping on his cheek. It was Pickett. After the bowtruckle saw that Newt was awake, he backed off a little looking at him, confused. Newt looked out the window, it was still dark. He felt better, but that wasn't saying a lot. The nausea was still there but it was dilated down a little bit, but he did feel a little refreshed from his quick-pier nap, or a nap, he didn't know how long he slept. Newt felt his cheek, his dreams are now memories, and this was the first good one. It was probably one of his favorites, it was the first time Newt ever felt love, and little did he know, it was the first time Leta experienced love as well. It didn't matter, Leta is probably dead now and he most likely will not see her again even if he got back to 1926. He poured his heart out to her and what he got in return was an expulsion.

Ptting aside the bitter thoughts, Newt stood up and fell over again, obviously the dizziness was harder to handle if he stood up. He crawled over to the desk and put a hand on the side of his desk. His case was underneath him and Pickett was standing in it. The bowtruckle then climbed onto Newt's waistcoat and made his way up to his usually spot - Newt's shoulder. Newt held onto the desk for support and he stood up. His legs were weak and shaking, maybe he shouldn't try this again, but if it did work, he would successfully have turned into an Animagus! It was well worth the risks!

Pickett was in obvious worry, wanting Newt to not do this to himself and to prevent him from doing anything further, Pickett pulled st Newt's light brown curls ever so slightly.

"Ow... Pi-Pickett, what was that fo-for?" Newt stuttered out. Pickett let out his tongue.

"This is my decision," Newt said, "you don't have to be here for it."

Pickett then crossed his arms in anger, how could his friend be doing this? The bowtruckless slid off of Newt's arm and onto the desk, sitting on a book, facing away Newt as he pouted. Newt looked on with sadness, he didn't mean to upset the bowtruckle but this was important to Newt.

Newt couldn't stand up on his own, so he decided to lean on the desk. He slowly raised his wand, breathing in and out hoarsely. He tried to find a sense of peace, thinking of his creatures, 1926, Tina, Leta, Theseus... flurries of memories came back and he didn't even realize it, but Newt raised his wand and already started to mutter the spell.

"Amato Animo Animato Animagus," Newt whispered loud enough for only him to hear.

When he opened his eyes again, the ground was different, it was closer. Oh god, did he fall over yet again? No, no he didn't. It was different... Newt no longer felt sick or weak, in fact, he felt strong and... and... a sense to run all over the place? Newt tried to observe himself and saw he had furry paws. He did it, Newt finally turned into an Animagus after what was almost a month and a half of waiting. He was so excited for this opportunity, but now the only problem was to figure out what he looked like. Newt didn't want to meet his creatures and have them not recognize him, they would most likely eat him, well, some of them.

Newt called out of Pickett but all that came out was:

 _BARK!_

Pickett was startled by this noise, and Newt saw him look over. The bowtruckle looked terrified, but he came down. Pickett was about the same height as Newt, at least that's what he could tell. He expected Pickett to be mad, but instead, the small creature began to smooth over his fur, well it felt like fur. This was... odd... and a change of scenery. Newt then walked over to his case, he had some trouble at first because he never experienced having four legs. Newt undid the latches one by one, his arms were too short and he didn't have any opposable thumbs, so he required both paws to open up one latch. Once bother we're open, Newt hopped down on one step at a time. Pickett took the pleasure of Newt's transfiguration and was now on his back.

At the bottom, Newt trotted over to a small box where he kept some photos of his family and past memories. This would be painful to go through, but it was he last place Newt had his hand mirror. Opening the latch like he did with the case, Newt rumbled through it, seeing many moving pictures of people he knew.

There was his brother and parents, along with Newt. At he time the photo was taken, he was thirteen, and Theseus was eighteen. His mother looked stern, but soft, it always amazed him, but his father still had the same stone cold experession he had seven year ago. Theseus stood there with a regal posture, giving off a feeling of power and commandment.

Newt continued to sort through it, seeing pictures of his aunts and uncles, his cousins and his creatures. Finally he found the hand mirror and pushed it out and slanted it.

Newt was a Corgi. He had his green eyes, usually Corgis had hazel or chocolate eyes. When one turns into an Animagus, they adopt some sort of physical trait that allows someone to identify who they are, apparently. That is how the Ministry keeps record of all the Animagi. His physical traits were his green eyes and a tuff of curly fur over one of his eyes. He could still see through it but there were some strands of hair, however. Newt's Animagus had a gorgeous coat of fur. He was in fact happy with this animal. They were adorable and Newt now seems to see some similarities between him and Corgis.

Newt returned upstairs. Now, all he had to do was transfigure back out of his Animagus form, and then, Newt should be able to easily transfigure in and out of his Animagus. The only question, however, was how Newt was going to turn back. Did he think of the incantation or did he just think of being a human? He tried both ways for a few minutes, and as each minute passed, Newt became more desperate and frantic. Pickett was sitting on top of his case now, seeing how worried his human friend was. Newt finally decided he needed to get help, preferably from Professor Dumbledore.

 _BARK!_

Newt forgot he could not speak, he meant to tell Pickett to stay with the case but all it did was startle the bowtruckle. Instead, he climbed on Newt's back, which is not what he wanted, but it didn't really matter at this point.

He ran down to the large wooden door leading into the Care of Magical creatures classroom. Now, this was going to be a problem. The size and weight of the door would most likely cause Newt unable to open it. However, he decided it was best to try anyway. In agreement with this idea, Neet nuzzled the door, trying to push it open. He put all his weight on the front of his paws, pushing his head and the right side of his body into the door. It creaked open a little bit. Panting, Newt stood still for a minute, still holding the weight of the door open a little, as he caught his breath and rested. Trying again, Newt continued to put pressure on the door, creaking open inch by inch. He repeated these steps - work to open it a creak, then rest. Once there was a large enough space for him to get out, Newt ran for it but the door closed and the middle of his Animagus form was caught between the closed widened door and the open one. Newt tried pulling forward, hoping that he could just maybe squeeze through. After a few attempts, Newt fell out and onto his face and Pickett slid across the floor. Once Pickett readjusted himself on Newt's back, he ran down the corridor, heading for Professor Dumbledore's office.

After running for a while, Newt's Animagus form began to become sore from holding the door open and From running for quite a while. He slowed into a trot as he turned a corner. Going down hallway after hallway was confusing in Hogwarts, and he had to backtrack twice. When Newt was about to turn a corner, he heard some whispering. It sounded like a girl's voice, and it seemed there was someone else there since she was either casting a spell or speaking to someone. Newt turned the corner, peering out. There was a girl who look just like the one he saw in the hospital wing that came from, what was it? Quidditch practice? It didn't matter, but there was another girl there. Her back was turned but her hair was a light brown, pulled back into a small ponytail. This was the corridor Newt had to go down in order to reach Professor Dumbledore's office and these two girls were in the way. When the light haired one turned around to face the red headed one, Newt realized it was Hermione. Did she always stay up at night, sneaking around?

"Who are we waiting for?" the red headed one asked.

"Luna, Marietta and Cho," Hermione replied. The two of them remained silent for quite a while after that. Newt was becoming restless, and he desperately needed to see Dumbledore. In response, Newt ran down the corridor and made his way towards the end of the hall where he would turn left.

"Woah!" the red haired girl exclaimed.

"What- why is there a dog?" Hermione asked. Newt could feel their stares as he turned the corner, hearing their rushed whispers as he furthered away. When Newt reached the golden eagle statue, Newt again realized that because he is not human, there is no way to open up the entrance. However, he inferred that since this is a magic spell, it should open up to his bark if he meant to say the password.

Trying to say the password, Newt barked.

Nothing.

The statue did not turn and reveal the stone steps leading up into the Headmasters' office. However, he did hear movement behind him, it was coming towards him. He supposed it was a teacher, since no sane student would come to the Headmasters' office at this time of night. Panicking, Newt didn't know if he should hide, which could result in entry but it may not at the same time, or be discovered, knowing that any right-minded professor would be able to recognize he was an Animagus, which would be an embarrassing situation. Deciding to go with the first option it of fear of embarrassment, the author quickly hid inside the little area the statue was located in. Since the stairs would rise to the left, Newt stayed to the right, pushing his body against the stone to make himself unnoticeable. The clicking of heels got closer. Suddenly they stopped, and Newt's heartbeat rose in his throat. He wondered if the person waiting in the corridor could hear how fast it was.

"Pumpkin Pie," a cold voice said.

The scraping noise of the stones could be heard, much louder this time with Newt's Animagus hearing and the fact he was closer to the source. The Hufflepuff shuffled towards the side of the statue that was turned now, out of sight of the visitor. The turning noise of the stairs came to a stop and the returning sound of feet moving resumed, this time, a little more hurried. From Newt's position, he could catch a small glimpse of a black robe. This fact could not help with any guesses as to which professor it was. Or perhaps it wasn't a professor, but maybe a parent, or a Ministry official, or a friend? Various ideas ran through Newt's head as he leaned his head against the metal of the statue. The sound of a wooden door opening and closing alerted Newt that this strange visitor was now inside the office. The next course of action was boring. The Hufflepuff decided it would be better to wait until the person left the office, so that he could get up the stairs easily and without any detection. He didn't know how long it would be until Newt could visit Dumbledore, it could be hours or minutes, depending on the conversation or circumstances.

After a few moments, there were rushed whispers, the light sound felt angry, betrayed, upset and above all, love. The dark shadows on the wall leading up to the office suddenly changed, there was a flash of a color, but there was no noise or cry. Instantly, the vibration of the door hitting the wall in a flurry could be felt from where Newt was standing. The mysterious visitor suddenly rushed out immediately in a fit of emotions. Again, the Hufflepuff could not get a good view of their face, making him ever so curious again. Stunned, he continued to stand there and he would never move had it not been for the abrupt thought of his current situation. Springing into action, Newt tried to rush up the steps as fast as he could. The short legs of his Animagus form made it harder to go up, and he assumed going down as well.

The entrance was wide open as Newt approached it. He waited on the side, peering around the corner to peek inside. To his surprise, Professor Dumbledore was sitting down in his chair, a hand placed on his forehead in frustration. Quietly, the author trotted inside, the sound of his paws hitting the ground radiated off the walls of the room. It was deathly quiet. The Headmaster immediately noticed. Worried eyes looked up, and he walked around the corner of his desk, stopping at the arch that opened into his desk area.

"Only you would get stuck with transfigurating, Newt," the professor stated.

The Care of Magical Creatures professor could not tell if the heat of his face could be noticed in this Corgi transfiguration. He knew, had the Hufflepuff been a human, that his face would be very red. This was even more embarrassing then the author could ever imagine.

Seeming almost hesitant and reluctant, Professor Dumbledore took out his wand slowly. The wand looked familiar to Newt, it gave off a sense of insecurity, as though it could explode at any moment without explanation. Ignoring this nagging feeling, he instead focused on the Headmaster who now was reciting a spell.

"Amato Animo Animato Animagus," Dumbledore softly spoke, twirling his wand with a white, bluish wisp glowing at the tip.

Hurriedly, Newt transfigure out of his Animagus and back into a regular human. He was grateful for being back in his own body now, however, tiredness immediately washed over him and he fell, slamming his body into a table which was located to his left. Putting his left elbow on the desk, and raising a hand to his eyes, he could hear Professor Dumbledore shift over towards him, placing a hand on Newt's shoulder.

"That was quite the transfiguration Mr Scamander, who would think you would become a Corgi? Of course, I mean I offense, it is an extraordinary creature, it will serve you well," he stated. Newt nodded breathlessly, his energy sapping from his very being.

"You are experiencing a side effect of Animagus Transfiguration. Most wizards do not do it correctly their first few tries, and even if they succeed, there are always some after effects," he answered, "You need not worry, though. This is not the worst effect I have seen."

Professor Dumbledore's last few words alarmed Newt, so much that he took away his hand from his eyes, and looked wide eyed towards him. Newt could barely make it any words. A weight was on his chest, weighing him down and if he spoke, his lungs would collapse.

"That's... that's...," Newt try saying hoarsely, " alar-mmm." Newt slurred the last part of his sentence as he placed his right elbow on the table and bent his neck in between his shoulder blades.

"I'll have Madam Pompfrey come, she will escort you back to your quarters. I don't want Umbridge to find out. Perhaps Madam Pompfrey can help re-energize you," Dumbledore said.

Newt did not hear him. He was so focused on the table in front of him, his mind was racing a mile a minute. He was dazzled, frazzled, and the only thing that was appealing was sleep, but he refrained himself. How many times has Professor Dumbledore seen him helpless, helplessly hurt, emotionally and physically? And now, how embarrassing it is for Newt to be even more helpless, at the mercy of being transfigured again. When has he never been a burden? Always being hurt, needing to lean on someone else whether it was Leta, Ms Goldstein or his creatures. He was tired of that. No longer will Theseus's words of his being weak will haunt him, Newt cannot understand that help will always be given when asked.

 **A/N:**

 **Hello! So sorry for the long wait! The next update may not be until next weekend! I have midterms but I will try working on the story whenever I can!**

 **I don't know if you guys caught my Hamilton reference ;). I listened to the soundtrack and I can't stop, I'm so obsessed now. If you didn't catch it, it was when Leta said she wasn't going to waste her shot. I may just throw in random references and just mess with you guys XD. I decided to edit that in because when this chapter is published, it would have been Alexander Hamilton's birthday.**

 **Ok so right now Newt is in a place where we have seen him being completely helpless (heheheh Hamilton hehehehe. I'm sorry :3) in situations where he messes up and hurts himself on accident. He then must rely on other people, which I think would contradict Newt's character because he's been traveling for a long time, he knows how to take care of himself. But now, he has to rely on other people just like how some characters relied on him. So that's what I'm exploring next, along with more of how Newt is dealing with the whole "not in 1926 anymore." However, the next chapter is going to be from Hermione's POV. So finally, I've been wanting to write from her POV for a while but I felt like it would be better if we focused on Newt a little bit so I can set up for a scene with the DA in the Room of Requirement. In addition to this, I am going to keep Newt separate from the DA because the Order of the Phoenix book was so special in way they learned on their own without help, which is a nice comparison to Newt who is struggling to learn on his own with help. I have so many ideas and I can't wait for you guys to learn of them!**

 **Please leave a review and I hoped you enjoyed this chapter!**

 **-Athena, Slytherin💚.**


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten: Dumbledore's Army**

Ginny and Hermione were waiting. They were waiting, and waiting, and waiting for what seemed forever, a lifetime it felt. Luna, Marietta and Cho were no where to be seen, of course their vision was limited in the enclosed hallway, but the three girls should have met with them twenty minutes ago. Hermione was becoming restless, she saw that Ginny was as well.

"Who are we waiting for?" Ginny asked in a forced out tone. Her teeth were gritted together, a sign of irritation.

"Luna, Marietta, and Cho," Hermione replied. Ginny didn't look at her when she answered her question, instead, she was looking down the dimly lit corridor, lost in thought. The two were starting to become sleepy, it was very late and the lack of conversation, as well as the fact that the three girls have yet to shown, the atmosphere and mood was sluggish and hazily. However, adrenaline and surprise peaked when a dog rushed around the corner Ginny was staring at. Hermione, who was leaning against the wall, almost fell from the soft and faint tapping of the dog's paws on the floor. Ginny was unfazed by the surpassing event, as if she expected it.

"Woah!" was all that she could say as it passed right by her.

"What- why is there a dog?" Hermione asked. The two continued to look at the dog, a Corgi Hermione thought it was, as it turned a corner and disappeared

"I thought dogs weren't allowed at Hogwarts," Ginny said.

"I thought so as well."

"Who do you think it belongs to? I suppose it would be someone from Slytherin, of course they would be the ones to smuggle something in, but I think it's George and Fred," Ginny said.

Hermione's lips curled into a smile, "That's an odd thought, but I suppose your brothers would be the prime suspects."

"Or, or... I know it's crazy but just wait... it could be a mythical creature in disguise!" Ginny said. She jumped up at the words "mythical creature" and twirled her fingers around to give off a spooky effect. Hermione gave out a small giggle before realizing, through her choice of words, perhaps it was not a creature, but someone. Hermione then saw she was becoming like the girl standing in front of her, making crazy conspiracy theories, it was most likely a stray that found its way in the castle. A teacher would find it soon enough and release it back to the forest, or maybe a student would find the dog and hide it. Hermione never knew the pleasure of owning a pet, she definitely knew she would hide it if there weren't more pressing matters now.

"Honestly, I cannot wait here any longer, let's just go to the room without them, we will tell them how to get there tomorrow and then they can explain why they weren't here," an angry Ginny said.

"We can't just leave them to their worries and confusion," Hermione answered back harshly, "I for one would not stand for someone to do that, but then again, I wouldn't be late in the first place. It's been what thirty-"

Before she could finish her sentence, the two Gryffindors heard footsteps down one of the corridors. There were too many, Hermione thought, to be only one teacher, and she assumed it was Luna, Marietta, and Cho.

To her luck, it was. Ginny had already started to move down the hallway they were in to hide behind a corner, but the sound was omniscient. Hermione didn't know where the sound was coming from, it bounced off the stone walls, and even if they hid, what if it was a teacher? And what if the so called teacher went down the corridor in which they were hiding? In any situation, it would be a slim chance of detention. So, in her final conclusion, Hermione stood there and waited casually.

To her assumption, the three girls came to a breathless stop at the end of the corridor.

"Sorry we're late," Luna apologized. At her words, Ginny came out from around the corner.

"Why didn't you hide, Hermione?" she asked as she made her way down the corridor.

"I had my reasons, I'll tell you later because as of now, we are extremely late, we have been waiting here for thirty minutes! What was so important that it couldn't wait?" Hermione said furiously.

"Marietta had to write a letter to home, it is not her fault she had too, her parents are worried," Cho defended.

Marietta Edgecomb stood by Cho's side. After Cedric Diggory's untimely death last year, Cho was devastated and depressed. Her close circle of friends, most of them at least, abandoned her after she fell into a depressed state. One of the few girls to stay by her side was none other than Marietta. Together, they became best friends and were extremely close, however, some of their politics got in the way but somehow they work past it, something that amazes Hermione. In her personal opinion, Marietta was someone she couldn't trust. She discredited Harry and Dumbledore's statements about the return of Lord Voldemort and, because of her mother's position at the Ministry of Magic as well as her constant pressure to Marietta to not end up on the Ministry's bad side, was one of the reasons Hermione couldn't trust her. Cho, of course, forced her into joining Dumbledore's Army. Because of people like her, Hermione secretly jinxed the parchment that everyone signed when they officially joined, a secret only Harry, Ron and Hermione knows about.

"My mum was worried about everything that's going on at school," Marietta said.

"Well anyway, can we go then? I've had enough of this hallway," Ginny said.

The five of them silently agreed, and they all followed Ginny as she led the way. Hermione caught up to the red haired Weasley and walked side by side with her.

"I don't like Marietta," Ginny whispered softly.

"I don't as well," Hermione replied as she looked back. Luna was to Cho's left, she was looking all around at the walls. She seemed to always be in a dreamy state, something Hermione wished she could do sometimes. Luna's fashion choices were a bit odd today. She wore pink glasses, studded at the side, pointing outward. She wore a coat, blended of pink and purple, and underneath it, she wore a black skirt with embroidered decorations what were blue, red, yellow, and green, from what Hermione could tell, she wore bright sky blue leggings along with it.

Next to Cho, on her right, was Marietta. She had a stern look on her face, and in Hermione's option, her features made her look even more like a traitor. Perhaps it was her biasness against the Ravenclaw, but it is hard to tell the difference. Marietta had long, curly hair that was a very light shade of red mixed with blonde. It reminded her of Newt's hair, but of course, Newt was a better person. She wore a simple navy blue hoodie along with black jeans, something very simple.

Out of the three walking behind them, Cho seemed to be the most cheerful. Obviously she could sense the tension between Hermione, Ginny and Marietta. Cho wore something similar to Marietta. A red sweatshirt and blue jeans was all she wore.

"Are you guys paying attention as to which way the room is?" Hermione questioned.

"No, not really," Luna responded.

"Well, I am," Cho said. Marietta just nodded to Cho's answer.

"Luna, please just pay attention from now on," Ginny said, "I honestly don't want to repeat the process of waiting for you guys tomorrow night." All Luna did was silently nod.

They were silent for the rest of the trip to the Room of Requirement, and as they made their way towards it, Hermione began to immerse herself in thought. Often at many times, Hermione over thinks various situations that could range from homework to sneaking around the castle. The content of her thoughts, however, were placed on worry. Many questions flew in her mind, coming from one side and flying out the other. Each question Hermione had, led to another. Her first and foremost inquiry was, are Harry and Ron worried about her? This in turn led to another, were the DA holding back their lessons? Were they searching for the party? So on and so forth each concern came, and of course, it was met with no answer. As such, Hermione became increasing frustrated. Her eyebrows fuzzed together and lines formed across her forehead as a look of confusion and uncertainty glanced across her face. Of course, when people have the time to think, which isn't often, they form faces by instinct. They don't even do it on purpose, it was as if it was a desire of our subconscious. Ginny immediately took notice to the particular features of her face, specifically those that showed emotion. People can tell what emotions their peers feel pretty well. They know when a person is sad, evident when they cry or their eyes are glossy, they can tell when someone is angry, their nostrils blaring outwards and a face of disgust and rage only a bull can understand. What they can't tell, however, is what others think. The brain is tricky, always ticking away with ideas and experiments and plans and all sorts of things. Some tick more then others, and some tick faster. It doesn't matter the level of intelligence, all people think and all people tick. Though, the question that should be asked is, how do we understand what people tick about? The answer is simple, just read the words Ginny asked in the few seconds after Hermione wore her emotions on her sleeve.

"What are you thinking about?"

Hermione was fazed in a plane between reality and thought. The one place a mind can wonder in thought. Everyone has at least experienced this once in their life time, and if not, well, that's another conversation.

Fazed by this statement, Hermione immediately returned to what is "reality" and her face returned to a stale face, showing emotions Ginny couldn't tell.

"How late we are, what the DA is probably doing. They're probably knocking their heads off wondering about us. I would. It's only logical," she replied.

"I suppose... I never really thought about that way. I was more worried about being late rather then their reaction. Gosh, I hope we didn't scare them. Ron must be livid," Ginny said. She frowned at this thought. Hermione knew Ron was very overprotective of his little sister. Even before the Chamber of Secrets was opened, Ron was protective of her, but not on a large scale like he is now. Oh poor Ronald, she could only imagine the thoughts running through this head as well as the turmoil he feels. Hermione never knew the pleasure of having a sibiling, being an only child has made her question at times how she would truly feel. When she was very young, Hermione would never think twice at the possibility of having a little sister, it was her dream! However, as she got older and started going to school at Hogwarts, Hermione started to really enjoy having time to herself. She could still see the bond that was shared between siblings, it was one of the strongest relationships she has ever witnessed.

"Ron will get over it, I'm sure," Hermione said reassuringly. She grinned and lifted her chin up in a supportive manner.

The group turned another hallway and slowed down their pace. Hermione turned around and walked backwards. She faced Luna, Marietta, and Cho and began to speak and inform them about the room.

"Okay, down this hall is the Room of Requirement. As you know from our previous discussions, the room will show itself to anyone who requires or needs it," hence the Room of Requirement, Hermione thought as she continued her statement, "Inside, the DA will meet to train and discuss matters concerning the school and anything else that demands our attention." She turned around and walked towards the room. Slowly, the wall melted away, revealing gorgeous carved stone that scraped and scrunched under the pressure of the sediments. Slowly, but surely, the stone morphed into a dark oil color that looked like the iron of grand castle gates. The iron rasped as it turned and twisted into a solid form, ricocheting from all sides. It soon stopped and a thud that echoed off the walls signaled that it was done transforming.

Hermione was restless and paranoid. One, every time the Room of Requirment revealed itself, there was the echo at the end. It bounced off the walls and traveled throughout the castle, stopping everything and bringing time to a standstill as people entered a trance, hearing closely from where the sound came from. Teachers, if not everyone in the castle, must've heard the noise! Any staff member in the radius of a few rooms could come crashing down the hallway at any second! Hermione had an idea and experiment forming at the end of her head. Maybe the sound was really omniscent and the sound could not be tracked to one location, or perhaps it was only heard in certain areas. This was not the time to delve into such interesting thoughts!

The next problem was the panic and uneasiness that radiated off the room like the sun, and behind her, three girls were confused, amazed, delighted, so many emotions flowing in and out, replacing each other. The waves of emotions came in and out, crashing down on the thoughts of their minds, overtaking any previous imagination in their head.

"Quickly, inside," whispered Ginny.

Luna, Marietta, and Cho shuffled in quietly and quickly, followed by Hermione and Ginny who came in swiftly. Ginny, closing the door behind the group that entered the grand room, turned around to find several people staring at them, some with wands pointed. Harry, Ron and Neville stepped up to the mysterious girls standing at the foot of the stairs that ever so slightly led to the lower part of the room.

"Where have you been?" Harry asked calmly. There was evidence in his voice of anger, but also reasurrence and comfort. Next up to vocalize Harry's concerns was Ron. Oh, Ronald, he was about to make a scene by the posture of his shoulders and the way the shadows seemed to cast a glow that highlighted his darker features and traits. It was as if the shadows were giving a warning, or perhaps they were celebrating by the way they danced across his skin in this light.

"Ginny, what happened! You were supposed to be here AN hour ago! We were worried and we were wondering if a teacher caught you or if we should go find you! We waster half an hour before we got started on any REAL lessons, and even then, everyone was sluggish from your disappearance!"

This was going no where and it was about to get worse. It did.

"Where have I been? WHERE HAVE I BEEN? You can't just blame our entire disappearance on me! I was waiting with Hermione for Luna, Marietta and Cho for twenty minutes! TWENTY MINUTES! I'm sorry that I'm loyal and waited so that they wouldn't get lost, or worse caught! Honestly, if it's anyone's fault blame them! You always make conclusions before asking anyone! You didn't even let me speak a word before blaming me! And-"

At this point, Ginny Weasley, the loving and kind girl, sweeter then sugar laced with the grandest saccharine taste, was no longer any of these words and descriptions. Her hair swayed back and forth, fighting a war of kindness and anger, flipping and switching sides, her hair became more red and orange before. It was as if a dragon that had been locked up for centuries was allowed to roam the Earth again, free in all its destruction, never bothering to care or look back. The fire weld up inside of her and spewed out in her words and innocent facial features. The expression she had was cast by the same shadow that seemed to dance around Ron, only it was lit by the fiery passion of rage, making it greater and more dangerous. The entire room was now looking, silent and stun. There was no moving. They were all ice, staring at the eruption in the middle of the room, terrified the fire may burn them.

"HONESTLY GINNY! I AM THE ONE TAKING CARE OF YOU ALL THE TIME. HAVE SOME RESPONSIBILITY. I HAVE BEEN TAKING CARE OF YOU EVER SINCE YOU WENT INTO THAT STUPID CHAMBER OF SECRETS. OF COURSE YOU BLAME ME FOR EVERYTHING, YOU PROBABLY BLAME ME FOR THAT. WELL NO IT WAS YOUR STUPID ACTIONS THAT ALMOST-"

"HOW DARE YOU! I WAS TRICKED. IT'S NOT LIKE YOU ARE THE BRIGHTEST OF THE BUNCH EITHER. AT LEAST I HAVE SOME HUMILITY. YOU FOOLISH LITTLE-"

"ENOUGH!" Harry roared.

Hermione placed a hand on Ginny's shoulder, attempting to calm the inferno that was standing before her.

"We cannot start to fight among ourselves! This will only weaken us and we will start to distrust each other where it is not needed. Right now, Umbridge has no idea about the DA and no clue on this. If we are going to continue to do lessons then we need to trust each other and not fight. Ron, Ginny, this is a personal matter. You solve your personal matters and business outside of this place. In here, we work," Harry said. "It's late, I think. We should all go to bed."

Bodies began to pile up towards the door, people were eager to get away from the toxic atmosphere that remained in the room. Ginny and Ron stayed in the places they were in when the fight broke out. Neither one moved until the door closed and it clicked shut.

"You just had to make a scene," Ginny muttered.

"What was that?" Ron asked.

"Oh, nothing," Ginny smiled sweetly. It was obvious she was faking it, you must have been an idiot to not notice that. Ginny's innocence was now tainted by the anger and rage she had towards Ron, every smile was laced with a sadistic and sarcastic tone that would haunt the rest of her days. The bags under Ron's eyes grew darker and his eyes became bloodshot and aware of every movement.

The two siblings were now wondering why the opposite felt this way. Ginny was tired of everyone protecting her, acting as if she was a dainty flower with no where to go and nothing to do but look beautiful and act graceful. Ron on the other hand was tired in a different definition. He was tired of Ginny blaming him. Of course she never said it, but Ron knew that there was that lingering sense of vexation that never left her. The only probable solution to their plague was communication. But you forget, they're human and even worse, they're family, and something terrible, siblings. In all the wonders of the world, it seems nothing was as curious as a relationship between brothers, sisters, and sisters and brothers. How some got along and others not? To be honest, there is no answer to that, and there may never be one. It is just by the sheer will and force of life that led them to this moment, brother and sister fighting. Oh, the joy of thinking everything could be over and forgiven in less then a paragraph of words, almost all disputes in history and the world could be solved this way, but there is something holding that back. Pride? Anger? Rage? Hermione contemplated this while standing in that room, watching Ginny and Ron walk away from each other, their paths separating. Ron was packing items into a bag and was silently speaking to Harry on some matter, the discussion obviously did not mention any of the transpiring events. It must be serious then. On the opposite wall, Ginny sat down, legs against her chest and she took out her wand. Wands, they were a beauty. They held so much power in what most muggles considered a stick, perhaps a toy to play around with. Witches and Wizards knew better, of course. A flick, a swoosh, a word could do so much. Build great architectural beauties, raise oceans, and they could even end a life. What Ginny was now doing were none of those things. She instead looked at the light, illuminating at the end of the wooden wand, and swayed it around. Her eyes followed where ever the light went, as if she was latching on to some last glow of hope. Hermione went over to Ginny and sat down next to her.

"No, not now man," Hermione heard Ron say faintly. Ron glanced over, his eyes went from full of flummox, to sorrow. Ginny didn't notice, she was too busy with her wand. Her mind was in a distant land, a distant forest, a memory perhaps. She focused on that, almost as if her life depended on it. There was pain in her eyes, but there was pain in everyone eyes. Just some have more then others. Right now, Hermione saw pain that most people don't have, particularly muggles, but witches and wizards know the look.

As soon as Ron spoke those words, he quickly left. Walking over to the door and leaving without turning his head. Harry looked after his dear friend in disappointment, hanging his head.

Hermione got up quietly, careful to not disturb whatever heaven Ginny might be in, and walked over to Harry. He had his arms crossed and looked at a mirror that had various parchments, newspaper clippings, photos and other documents on it.

"What were you two talking about?"

"I tried to speak to him about what happened... and apologize," he added quickly. Hermione nodded her head in agreement. While what Harry said was true, it probably wasn't the best way to say it, especially in the state of mind everyone was in as well as the tone ignored his voice.

"Well that was a great first lesson. Five out of five. Of course i was absent but...," she said with a small sigh that was followed with a laugh. Harry smiled and looked up.

"Yeah we didn't really learn anything you can't handle. Basic spells that just push people away," he replied.

The room became quiet. All the life and joy and happiness that resulted from a sanctuary to hide and gain knowledge was now gone. It vapportated into the air like water. There was no more conversation after that. It was dead. How could there be conversation? Hermione was desperate, she wasn't very good in silence sometimes. This was one of those times. There was a calling, a need to say something, anything.

"Ginny," she said softly. Her voice almost cracked in between. She had to stay strong, Ginny needed it now.

The young Weasley looked up, her eyes glossed but her cheeks were clear of any liquid.

"Let's go back. You need rest and besides, I don't really want to fall asleep in Professor Snapes class," Hermione said as she rolled her eyes.

Ginny got up and walked out. Harry and Hermione followed her. Out in the hallway, a few good meters from it in fact, the turning and scraping noises of the iron turning into stone again could be heard. However, this time, Hermione couldn't hear the echo. It was suppressed by something. It wasn't as loud but she heard it slightly.

Everything was changing so quickly. The world, school, her friends and herself. What wouldn't change? Ron and Ginny may never get over this. You may ask, but it was siblings fighting, wasn't it? Yes and no. The Chamber of Secrets was an insecurity of Ginny, she felt so much guilt and remorse for the monsters she unleashed. Ginny put all of them in danger, she even petrified Hermione by releasing the basilisk! Hermione was not quick to forgive, however. She thought Ginny was daft, stupid and thick-headed for falling into such a trap that was quite obvious. But Hermione then came to understand and earn a friendship with her after the feelings she harbored about the Weasley. In turn, Ron should never have gone to such a place as to mention the Chamber of Secrets, and that is your answer as to why things may never be the same.

 **A/N: Hello! I am back from the dead again. My previous author note has been discarded and replaced by this one. I am going to sum up the contents of that message quickly and then on to some important stuff.**

 **So, I didn't update in a month and that's completely my fault on part of laziness and a writers block, there is no excuse and I am terribly sorry. However, to hold you over I did write a part of this chapter and released it earlier to give a quick update.**

 **One of the things I discussed in the other note was Marietta Edgecomb. Most of my friends don't know who she was so I am going to state it here because some people may not know her. I was searching for some DA members and I remembered that, in the books, Marietta was actually the one to rat out the DA and not Cho, so I was going to deviate from the movies and do parts from the book, as originally planned. I am taking some elements from the movies, however.**

 **Back to Marietta Edgecomb, she is not an OC. I am only stating this because I don't know if people know that because most of my friends don't even remember her, I don't either to be completely honest. So the history behind her was that she is, ahem WAS (actually not sure about was, dont hold me accountable if I'm wrong, I'm still salty over her), a good friend of Cho during her fourth and fifth years at Hogwarts. After Cedric died, Cho was devastated and she was sad and a little depressed. I can't blame her. Anyway, most of Cho's friends abandoned her and Marietta was one of the few to stick by her. They became very close friends and Marietta was forced by Cho to join the DA for whatever reason. Anyway, at the time when the accusations of Harry and Dumbledore were flying around, Marietta stood by them and didn't trust either of them mainly because her mother worked at the ministry and she specified that she was to not get on the ministry's bad side. Her mother pressured Marrieta to do that and after some interrogation and stuff by Dolores Umbridge, Marietta confessed to her in hopes of staying on her good side since Umbridge discreetly threatened her mother's position.**

 **Shortly afterward, Hermione's jinx caused her to get acne? I think? On her face that spelt out (not sure, I don't remember but it's going to be in the story definitely.) It somehow left her with scars and she couldn't fix it for a while. It was pretty severe. Even with heavy makeup she couldn't cover it. In the books, Cho soon ended her relationship with Harry (GOOD RIDDANCE IF YOU ASK ME) because she thought Hermione's jinx was a cruel joke and Harry obviously thought the opposite. Apparently Marietta felt incredibly bad afterward and couldn't bring herself to face Hart I suppose.**

 **I also need to address a question because I thought about it for a while. So, asked about Rolf running into Newt, Rolf is Newt's grandson, and I thought about it for a while because that seems to be the main flaw in this story as I have seen so far and now I just pointed it out to you guys. Great. Anyway, so I thought about it and I came up with a solution as to why he isn't there. So I did some digging and of course, I couldn't find Rolf's age. Which I guess I'm lucky. So to let you know, Rolf became a Magizoologist and also traveled the world. I assume when Newt did the same, he was often out of contact and did not know about the wizarding activites. So right now, I'm gonna say that Rolf is maybe a few years older then Luna, three to be exact, which makes him fresh meat (hehehe) out of Hogwarts. In essence they meet each other at the battle of Hogwarts and later get married and this is an AU plus Newt's presence is changing the course of history already. I'm also the author so what I say goes. (I'm kidding, take a joke come onnn)**

 **Okay this note has gone on long enough but another update.**

 **I plan on taking a hiatus on this story for a while to write out the rest or most of the chapters. I don't really plan on the story being past 20 chapters. However, I do plan on continuing the story from Newt's perspective into other stories, such as him returning to 1926 and dealing with the whole Grindlewald stuff or I was going to have him stay perhaps until the Half-Blood Prince and I have no idea about the Deathly Hollows. I feel like it wouldn't feel right if Newt was in the Deathly Hollows, mainly because that's Harry and Voldemort's battle and I don't want to take away any glory.**

 **Anyway, as we near the end, let me know if you want me to continue my time-travel AU stuff or something idk or not.**

 **As always please review!**

 **-Athena, Slytherin💚.**


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